Not Expecting To Fall Literally
by stargazer32316
Summary: Liz's life was going well, she finally made the cheerleading team, her crush was finally noticing her, and for once her overprotective brother and nosy best friend approved yep life was good. But when Max Evans' family decides to up and move to Roswell,
1. Chapter 1

**Not Expecting To Fall **_**Literally** _

**Prologue: Falling Into Realization**

Title: Not Expecting To Fall Literally

Author: Sariah **  
**

Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They aren't mine so don't sue 'cuz you'll just get a lot of junk and a laptop. But please don't take my laptop! It's my baby. (Clutches it protectively)

Pairings: AU M/L M/M A/I K? 

Ratings: Pg-13 or teen 

Summary: Liz's life was going well, she finally made the cheerleading team, her crush was finally noticing her, and for once her overprotective brother and nosy best friend approved - yep life was good. But when Max Evans' family decides to up and move to Roswell, she'll notice a flaw in her perfect life. As you can tell this is AU.

**Liz's POV**

I don't know how long I've been sitting here. I'm stunned and so startled by the thoughts running through my head that it's no wonder I never noticed my knees were scraped and bloodied until Maria points it out. "- you okay?" Is all I hear as I tune back in to the real world and what Maria is saying to me. It's then I notice that by now Max and over half the football team are there as well all hovering around my crumpled form. Geeze you'd think they'd never seen an injured girl before. I manage to nod my response, but my mind rushes back to my previous thoughts and that's all I am able to answer as I try to organize them in my head. No Frickin' Way. No, it's just not possible, but as my mind finally sorts through the last of my hectic thoughts, I remember the last five minutes and the startling realization that brought me to this point. I'm in love with Max Evans. No Frickin' Way.

With this new realization and the pain in my knees starting to kick in, I begin to feel claustrophobic by all the people surrounding me. I mentally thank Maria as she starts pushing the crowd back and threatening bodily injury if they don't move and give me some space. Sometimes I just love my best friend. The last face I see is Max's as Maria is ushering him away from me as well. I want to tell Maria to let him stay, but my mouth can't seem to work. Max shoots me a concerned look and silently pleads with me to let him stay, but at my silence allows himself to be sent away.

"You okay chica? Do you want me to bring back Max?" Maria asks. Apparently I wasn't so successful in hiding my disappointment.

"No Maria, I'll be fine, really."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." I can tell that she doesn't believe me but she stops asking. I know later I'm going to have a lot to explain, but right now I'm thankful for the silence. Maria checks me over one more time and when she seems satisfied she starts to walk away.

"I'll be right back." She tosses over her shoulder. For a moment I wonder where she's headed, but then I'm just grateful to get out from under her worried and questioning gaze. I love my best friend and all, but sometimes she's such a mother hen. With Maria gone, I allow my gaze to travel back to Max and I'm surprised to meet his amber eyes staring back at me. I hold his gaze for a second more until he abruptly turns away leaving me to stare at his back.

I hate the distance that has grown between us over the last month and for a second I silently berate myself for not being able to get over my foolish pride and ask Max to stay. Then I remember that I wasn't the only one to blame for ruining our friendship. Max had his part in it too. My mind echoed the last words of our fight. "If you go, our friendship is over," he said with a certain finality I had never heard him use before. I was so angry that he could even say that. Then before I knew what was happening, out came the words that put the last nail in the coffin of our friendship. "I guess that's the price I have to pay," I answered back with the same finality.

I guess he thought that I would give in, that I wouldn't leave because the look of surprise, anger and hurt that masked his face as I said those words made me wish that I could just take them back, but it was already out of my mouth and with that I turned on my heel and stormed out. And by storming out I successfully ended our friendship causing a huge rift between our group when they were forced to take sides.

I'm pulled out of my reverie as I feel strong arms lift me up and place one of my arms around their neck. For a brief moment I hope that it's Max, but I turn my head and meet the eyes of my brother. It's then I realize where Maria had gone. For a second I'm disappointed and I quickly try to hide it, but he notices and gives me a small squeeze around my waist and a sympathetic smile. My eyes fill with tears and I lean against him as he leads me to the nurse's office. I don't know what I would have done without my brother this past month and my heart swells with love as I recall that even though he and Max were best friends he choose my side over his. I manage another side glance at my brother though and I realize the toll his decision has taken on him. I wish we could all just go back to when things were simple. Back when Max and I were friends. Back when we were all friends. Before fights, ultimatums, and startling realizations. But I realize now that we can never go back and I can only hope that the consequences of the choices we've made don't keep us apart forever.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: Pyramids and Projects**

six months earlier

Liz's POV

_Sometimes we do crazy things that at the moment seem like the most natural thing. Okay, well that's not totally true. Sometimes we do things that we know we're going to regret later, but we can't help ourselves. You know what I'm talking about, right? What do you mean no! You can't tell me you've never done something like that! Okay that's not the point. Back to the story._

"Parker!" I cringe as Tess Harding's gerbil-like voice reaches my ears and I wonder what I've done now to anger the blonde co-captain of the cheerleading team.

"Liz, Liz, Liz." Tess says condescendingly while twirling one of her blonde curls around her finger.

"Yes Tess?" I answer back sweetly. Did I mention just how much I would like to rip those curls out of her pretty little head? She circles around me and by now has the attention of the rest of the cheerleaders.

"Liz, you do want to see us go to nationals this year don't you?" She asks.

"Of course Tess." I don't see what she's getting at and it's starting to frustrate me. Did I mention I hate Tess? Tess and I go way back, and not in a good way. We met in middle school and for some reason she's always hated me therefore making me her favorite person to pick on. I guess over the years that hasn't changed because here we are five years later and she's still on my case.

"You know Liz, if you paid as much attention to learning our new routine as you seem to be giving the football team, we might just make it to nationals and maybe even win." Oh, did I mention I joined the cheerleading squad? No? It must've slipped mind. I don't understand where she gets the nerve; I mean she was just staring at the football team as well.

"Hey Liz." And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I joined the cheerleading squad.

"Hey Jay, um how's it going?" I smile shyly and watch as he continues to jog around the field with the rest of the football team. Jay and I have also known each other since middle school as well and I think I've had a crush on him since I met him on the second day of seventh grade when his family moved to Roswell from Santa Fe. He has light blonde hair and not to mention the most gorgeous pair of brown eyes I have ever seen and it's easy to see how over half the female population at our school is in love with him. I watch as he turns back and winks at me which causes me to blush even more. sigh I'm in love.

"Liz! Stop ogling my brother and pay attention!" Tess squeals again. Blushing furiously now, I turn around. Yet another thing I hate to acknowledge. That my crush is related to Tess. Yes people, you have heard me right. I swear someone must have peed in their gene pool because there is no way that Jay turned out to be the wonderful, normal guy he is, and Tess turned out to be some psychotic, big-mouthed gerbil. I know, I know, hard to fathom. You can just imagine my reaction when I found out. See, Tess was in the middle of making my life miserable when Jay came to my rescue. He told Tess to back off and I thought I'd just met the man of my dreams. Cute, sweet, amazing eyes. Then Tess has to go and ruin it by saying she'd talk to him at home and stomping off.

"Liz? Are you even listening to me!" Whoa, is it me or is she turning purple?

"Tess, just leave her alone. You were staring at the football team too."

"But Serena-"

"Liz knows this routine better than you do Tess and if you don't leave her alone then as senior co-captain I'm going to have to pull rank." Huh. Well that certainly shut her up. Tess glares coldly at me and turns around to go back to her position.

"Okay girls, lets try a good old fashioned pyramid. Courtney. You, April, Jessica and _Tess_ take the bottom.

"What! Why am I on the bottom? Serena this is totally unfair."

"Tess we don't have time for this. You're not the only one on the bottom. Now go to your position." He he. That's right. Put the blonde gerbil in her place. Tess grudgingly moves to her spot next to Jessica and sends an evil glare in my direction.

"Now, Ashley and Liz, each of you will be supported by two of the girls on the bottom of the pyramid so get into position. Liz I want you in front of –." Courtney and April. Courtney and April. Please say Courtney and April. Serena looks at me and smirks as if she knows what I'm thinking. "- Courtney and April. Ashley, you go stand in front of Jessica and Tess. Now on the count of three I want you two to lift Liz, and you two to lift Ashley. Now Liz, when you and Ashley are up I want you to grab each other's wrist and complete the pyramid. Got it?" We all nod and get in to position. "Good. One. Two. Three." In a matter of seconds Ashley and I are up and we easily accomplish Serena's instructions. "Okay girls, that's enough for today. You did good. Liz, Ashley, get down and you're all dismissed." Okay this is one of the things that I love about cheerleading. The dismounts. On The count of three I do a barrel tuck and am caught by Courtney and April.

"Serena! Wait up." I yell, trying to catch up with her in the crowded hallways of West Roswell High. Sometimes she's so rude. I mean we are going to the same class next period you'd think that she could wait for me. Serena stops and turns to wait for me. I can tell she's getting impatient because she starts to tap her foot.

"Thanks." I breathe out as I reach her side.

"No problemo babe, we _are_ going to the same place."

"No, I mean for earlier, with Tess."

"Well yeah, what are cousins for? You know I'm not just a pretty face." Serena said trying to keep a straight face but failing miserably. "Besides, I never liked Tess. She just screams desperate fake breasted skank."

"How did you figure out my nickname for her!" We both broke into laughter. "I'm so glad your parents let you finish your senior year here. I would've missed you."

"Awww Liz, you're going to make me cry." Serena laughed pretending to shed a fake tear.

"Shut up. I'm serious."

"Yeah, that's what you say now, but then it'll be like 'I can't wait for you to go home' or 'give me back my clothes' or 'Serena! Stop reading my journal.'" Is that my shirt she's wearing? Wait.

"YOU READ MY JOURNAL?"

"I needed something to keep me entertained. By the way, that thing you mentioned in Monday's entry? Totally true, that would be embarrassing." I can't believe her! That stuff is private! At my incredulous look she starts to crack up.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

"Good because a person's journal is private." Good thing she was kidding there's some pretty embarrassing stuff in there.

"Yeah, besides that dream you had about Jay the other night was more embarrassing."

"Serena! Geez, say it louder, I don't think the people in Czechoslovakia heard you."

"Liz, Czechoslovakia hasn't been a country for 10 years." It hasn't?

"That's not the point." I glare at her.

"Okay don't get your panties in a bunch. Come on, we're going to be late for Psychology." She starts to walk off and all I'm left to do is follow her.

"Are you okay?" Maria asks as I sigh heavily and sink down into my chair next to her. Okay? Sure I'm okay. Tess won't get off my case long enough for me to even talk to Jay and my cousin is invading my privacy. I'm just peachy.

"Yeah," I nod and pull out my psychology notebook. She gives me a look to let me know she's not convinced, and then turns around to look at Serena.

"So does this have to do with the fake breasted gerbil or her brother?" She asks.

"Neither. She's mad at me because I read a particularly embarrassing entry in her journal." Serena replies casually as if it happens all the time. I turn a glare in her direction.

"Ooh what was it about?" Maria asks excitedly.

"Maria!" I yell and smack her on the shoulder. I can't believe this. What is this, a conspiracy?

"I mean um… Serena! That is such an invasion of privacy! I can't believe you would do something like that!" Maria says with indignation. Thank you!

"Right, so I'll tell you later?"

"Yeah, thanks Serena." What the heck! Traitor.

"Hey what'd I miss?" Alex asks as he takes his seat beside Serena. Oh just the conspiracy between my cousin and best friend to make sure I have no privacy. He takes in the expressions on our faces and turns towards Serena and Maria. "What'd you guys do now?"

"Hey! I resent that accusation!" Serena yells. Alex turns towards me.

"She read your journal?"

"Yep." Before I could say anything else the bell rings and in walks the teacher.

"Good afternoon class. As I'm sure you all know, your projects are due on Friday which gives you all four days to do them. Today we will be talking about the requirements for your projects and partners-."

"Liz, psst! Liz! Maria whispers loudly trying to gain my attention inconspicuously. When I don't answer her she shoves me hard on the shoulder, thinking I haven't heard her. I lose my balance and almost fall crashing to the floor but I manage to grip the table before my face eats the floor.

"Geez. What the heck Maria!" I shout loudly.

"Ms. Parker!" Huh? Oops. "Do you have something you'd like to share with the class, Ms. Parker?" What? How come Maria doesn't get in trouble?

"Wait I…but she…" I try to explain looking back and forth between Maria and the teacher. Oh this is so not fair.

"Well?" She asks expectantly.

"No Ms. Thomason." I say sitting down. Maria is going down. I turn and give her the evil eye to which she gulps and waves nervously.

"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted," the teacher continues, sending a glare my way. Hey, what gives? It was all Maria's fault. Say it with me, M-A-R-I-A. "Your partner will be the person sitting next to you." I turn another cold stare in Maria's direction and continue taking notes. "Presentations are on Friday and you must have graphs or some other form of notes. Now remember, this project is on social psychology so you're studying people's reactions to certain things." How about if I study my partner's reaction to pain? No? Darnn. "I think that's all you need to know so if there aren't any questions, you may have the rest of the period to discuss with your partners what it is your project will be on." She sends one last glare at me and turns around towards her desk to grade our papers.

"Um… Liz? You're not mad at me um…are you?" Maria laughs nervously in my direction.

"Maria, what would ever give you that idea? You're my best friend. I could never be mad at you." Maria looks relieved and I steal a glance back at my cousin and Alex to see that the warning signals have gone off in their heads and they look sympathetically at Maria and shake their heads.

"Good, I'm glad you're not mad, because I didn't mean to-. AHHHHHHH! LIZ!" she shrieks as I slowly remove my pink highlighter from her face. Ha ha. Serves her right. Alex and Serena try to stifle their laughter at the now bright pink line on Maria's cheek. But when Maria turns to look at them they quickly pretend to be discussing their project. "Geez Liz! What was that for!"

"For being a jerk and getting me in trouble!"

"I told you I didn't mean to do it. I was trying to get your attention. It's not my fault you were ignoring me!"

"Um actually it is. Remember the whole journal conspiracy thing?" I remind her.

"Oh yeah." She replies looking embarrassed.

"Besides, what was so important that it couldn't wait?"

"Well, being the amazing best friend I am I thought you'd like to know that Jay is going to that party at the old soap factory tonight." He is?

"How'd you find that out?"

"Well, that was why I was trying to get your attention so badly. Jay was looking for you." He was! "Yeah, he was." Maria says reading the surprise on my face. "Apparently he tried talking to you after practice but you'd run off so fast he didn't get a chance. So he gave me this note to give to you." She finishes with a smile.

"I'm so sorry I was ever mad at you Maria. You're the best!" I tell her, grabbing the note from her hands."

"I know, I know, but feel free to keep telling me." She says with a smug expression. I practically rip open the note and stare hungrily at the page. What the?

"Maria, what's this?" Maria looks over my shoulder at the paper and turns beet red with mortification. "Maria? Who's M and why are you meeting him in the eraser room?" Alex and Serena's attention is more prominent now both peeking over our shoulders to get a look at the note as well.

"Oops…um wrong note." She says hastily yanking the paper from my grasp. Digging through her backpack she finally produces another note and hands it to me. "Okay, here's the right one. What?"

"It's no use trying to distract us babe. We wanna know who M is and we're not leaving you alone till you tell us." Serena says, resting her head forward on her palm, the interest sparkling in her green eyes. Alex and I nod our heads vigorously in agreement.

The reason we're all so interested in Maria's love life is because to our knowledge, Maria hasn't shown an interest in any guy since Billy Knowlton broke up with her two years ago and now all of a sudden she's meeting guys in the eraser room. This is huge!

"I don't know what you guys talking about." Okay time to pull out the guilt card.

"Maria. I'm your best friend. How come you never told me about this guy? It hurts to know that you don't trust me anymore." Putting all the feelings of hurt I can manage into my voice I look at her with my best sad puppy dog look. Oh I think its working.

"Liz, that was low." Maria states disapprovingly. Guess it didn't work after all. "And if you all must know, I've been feeling down lately so I have been writing myself love notes to make me feel better."

"You wrote a note to yourself asking yourself to meet you in the eraser room?" Alex asks incredulously.

"Well it sounds stupid when you say it like that, but yeah." Okay….. If she thinks we're going to believe that then she's got another thing coming.

"You know we're going to find out eventually. You might as well just tell us now."

"I told you Liz, there's nothing to tell." Uh huh, yeah right. "Anyways, what does the note from Jay say?" I know she's trying to change the subject, but what can I say, it works. I slowly read the note and drink in every word written in Jay's neat handwriting. As I reach the end of the note I squeal in delight causing Ms. Thomason's glare to once again focus on me. What? Just because she doesn't get love letters doesn't mean she should ruin the experience for those of us that do. I mean she's no spring chicken.

All of a sudden the room gets deathly quiet. And then, laughter. I look around the room to see what's going on. That's when I notice Maria, Alex, and Serena all staring at me with shocked expressions on their faces. And then I look to the front of the classroom to see Ms. Thomason's face blood red with anger and embarrassment.

"Maria?"

"Yeah Liz?"

"Please don't tell me I just said that out loud." I beg her.

"Okay then I won't tell you." Oh crap.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2: Fight Is Flight Without The 'L'

Max POV

"I…I can't believe this!" Isabel yelled, attracting the attention of everyone in the airport.

"Isabel, honey calm down" Her mother tried to soothe her.

"NO! First you drag us out here to this God-forsaken town and now the airlines lose my luggage! Why did we have to move here anyways?"

"Isabel, you're making a scene." I tell her, trying to at least get her to stop yelling.

"Yeah, at least I'm making an argument, Max. Aren't you angry we had to move here too?" Yes I'm angry, but I don't tell her this because I know she's just going to keep arguing.

"Isabel, there's nothing we can do about it now. We're here, the movers are bringing the stuff tomorrow, there's no point in arguing because it's not going to change anything." She seems to have listened to me because her shoulders sag and she stops arguing. My mom sends me an appreciative look and moves towards the exit.

"Come on Iz" I tell her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and leading her out into the hot desert sun and slowly to the cab that will take us to the new house.

After a few minutes of silence, Isabel mumbles out an apology and turns to look out her window.

The truth is I was mad, but I know that my parents weren't doing this to us purposely. If we could have stayed we would have, but I knew as well as my dad that if he didn't accept this promotion now he might not have been offered it later. Isabel might not see it now, but it was something Dad had to do. I turn my head to look at Isabel again and notice her shoulders shaking. She's crying. I put my arm around her shoulder again and pull her closer to me. She rests her head on my shoulder and allows me to comfort her.

I think on some level Isabel knew our parents didn't have a choice, but this is hard for her. We lived in Albuquerque all our lives and moving to a new place where she doesn't know anyone scares her.

"I'm sorry Mom." I'm pulled out of my thoughts as Isabel speaks. "I know it's not your fault that we have to move here and I didn't mean to take it out on you at the airport or cause a scene." She says softly. "It's just… I've been friends with Marissa, Alyse, and Michelle for so long… what if I can't make any friends or…or."

"Sweetheart you're going to be just fine, I know it. You've never had any problem making friends and I don't think you will now. You're an amazing girl and I'm sure everyone will see that." I can see Isabel allows her words to sink in. She doesn't fully believe them, but she puts on a small smile and nods her head.

I know what Isabel's worried about, but the only thing that ever holds her back is her. When Isabel steps into the unknown she puts up this wall around her, scared of getting hurt. She tends to keep people at a distance and that's the only reason she would have trouble making friends.

"Isabel, sometimes when you let people in you let the bad in with the good." I whisper to her. She turns to look at me for a second and then smiles. Mission accomplished. She shoves me hard on the shoulder.

"Jerk!" Huh? "You totally stole that from 'She's All That'!" She said starting to laugh.

"Oh." I say feeling the embarrassment rise in my cheeks.

"That's okay; at least I know you learned something from when I forced you to watch it with me." She said laughing again.

"We're here." My mom says from the front seat. I look up at the house that's going to be our new home and help Isabel out of the cab.

"Come on Max, I got dibs on the biggest room!" She says braking off into a run towards the front door. I feel an arm wrap around my shoulder and turn to look at my mom.

"Don't worry Max; she's going to be just fine." My mom laughs and we head to where Isabel is standing in front of the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed And Returned Ruined

Liz POV

"Stupid Ms. Thompson." I mumble under my breath as I head down to the principal's office. Geez, just because she can't handle the truth doesn't mean she should take it out on me. I continue walking down the deserted hallways and until I reach my destination. The seventh gate of hell, otherwise known as the principal's office. As I open the door I'm surprised to see-.

"Kyle, what are you doing here?"

"Buddha says you must free one's spirit and mind and then only can you reach a higher plateau." What is he talking about?

I've known Kyle since we were in fourth grade. You know ever since he beat up Doug for Maria and me when he was pushing us around on the playground. Well, actually he tried to beat up Doug. The truth is Doug punched him out and Maria was so mad she jumped Doug and well, let's just say Doug ran off crying. When Kyle came to, he couldn't remember what happened so we told him he beat up Doug. You know fragile male egos. Kyle just naturally believed it and Doug was too embarrassed to tell anyone he was beat up by a girl so… And we've been friends ever since. Then last year he went away to football camp and I don't know how but he came back a Buddhist.

"Um…Okay. And in English that means?"

"It's my free period; I'm just delivering something for the librarian." Why can't he just say these things like a normal person? "So Liz, what brings you to the seventh gate of hell?" See what did I tell you?

"Stupid Ms. Thomason." Yeah the old spinster couldn't handle that I was getting love notes and she wasn't.

"Love note? Who'd you get a love note from?" He asked suddenly interested.

"Darn it! I gotta stop saying these things out loud!" I shout incredulously. I swear I have a problem or something. I wonder if they have treatment for this sort of thing.

"So… What happened?" What happened? What happened! That evil old bat is what happened.

"Well, I don't know where to start." I say trying to stall for time.

"Well, how about you start with who sent you the love letter." Dang it! He remembered. Obviously he could tell what I was thinking because he started laughing at me.

"Well, the letter was from…"

"From…?" Crap, he's not gonna let this go.

"It was from Jay."

"Really?" He asks. Is that disbelief in his voice?

"Yes really! Is it totally inconceivable that I would get a love note from Jay, or just inconceivable that I could get a love note ever?" I shout at him angrily.

"No, we went out too remember? I was just going to say that it's about time." What? I didn't tell you that Kyle and I used to go out? Well, I was kind of Kyle's first girlfriend. We were only together for about a month and we realized it was too awkward and that we were better off as friends so we broke up. His dad was just glad to find out his son wasn't batting for the other team since he spent so much time with Maria and I.

"Oh."

"Okay, so you got a letter from Jay and…"

"And he was asking me if I wanted to go to the party at the old soap factory with him."

"And how does that lead to you getting sent to the principal's office?" He asks confused.

"Well, um…I was kind of excited when I finished the note that I um…kind of squealed because I was so excited…"

"So she sent you down here because you disrupted the class? Man, what a witch."

"Well…that's not exactly it. See, after I squealed she glared at me and I was thinking that just because she didn't get love letters that she shouldn't ruin it for the rest of us who do and that it's no surprise because she's no spring chicken…and…"

"So wait, why were you sent here again? He asked even more confused than before. You think he'd be used to it. I mean he's friends with Maria and me after all. Lord knows Alex is used to it by now.

"Well, you know what I was thinking? You know that she wasn't a spring chicken and everything? Well I kind of said that out loud."

"What! You said that out loud?" He asks cracking up. "Oh man, I wish I could've been there to see her face!"

"Oh just ask Alex later. I think he took a picture with his digital camera." I inform him.

"Oh man that was good! So that's why she sent you down here then?" He asked still laughing.

"Well actually, she was only yelling at me until I told her it was true and then she sent me down here." I tell him.

"Dude Liz stop! I can't…breathe…" He said between laughter.

"What? It's not my fault that the aliens forgot to remove her anal probe!"

"Oh man Liz! I think I'm gonna pee my pants! I'll be right back!" And with that said, he ran out the door and down the hallway.

(5 min. later)

"So Kyle, how are things between your dad and Maria's mom?" Kyle makes a face and I can tell he's grossed out by whatever he's about to tell me.

"It's sickening; they won't keep their hands off of each other! I found them making out in the pantry in the kitchen! And Maria found them making out in the laundry room. I'm telling you, no kid should be subjected to this. It's just so…wrong." He says with a shudder.

"Well, they are engaged." I remind him. "So, where are you all going to live?"

"My dad and Amy are looking for around for a three bedroom house and we're all going to live together." He looks as if he just tasted something horrible. "Do you know what kind of permanent damage I face in that situation?" He asks.

"Oh come on Kyle, it won't be that bad. At least you and Maria are friends and who knows; maybe it'll be good to have some estrogen to counteract all the testosterone." I say in what I hope is a comforting voice.

"See that's what I mean, Maria IS my friend, I don't want to find her underwear all over the house or find her girly products in the bathroom, and I definitely don't want to see her mom making out with my dad. Plus, I don't trust anything that can bleed for three to five days and not die."

"Hey! As a woman I am officially offended!" I say smacking him upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For being a sexist pig! You're just lucky Maria isn't here, but don't think I won't tell her what you said." I tell him and for a second I see the fear enter his eyes. Ha ha. That's right, now you're screwed. Mwa ha ha ha ha. I laugh maniacally in my head.

I was just in the middle of one of my ha's when I hear the door to the principal's office open and see the secretary standing there.

"Ms. Parker, the principal will see you now." Then she turns and walks back in through the door.

"Good luck." Kyle says sarcastically, still rubbing the spot on his head where I smacked him. So with a final shove, I hurry into the principal's office. Pausing only at the door to hear the loud thud that told me Kyle had in fact fallen off the chair. Mission accomplished. And with that done, I take a deep breath and head the rest of the way into the principal's office.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey Guys:) Ummm... No one's reviewed my story so I don't know if you guys like it... : ( I would really love reviews! Or even constructive criticism... (sounds of crickets) Nobody? Anybody? (sighs) Okay...onto chapter 3b

Chapter 3b

Max POV

"Max?" I turn my head towards the door in time to see Isabel poke her head through. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure." I watch her as she moves in and shuts the door behind her.

"You know, I still think your room looks bigger than mine." Uh oh. We are not changing rooms again. Do you know how many times we've switched back and forth already? Hurry, think of something uh…

"I don't know; I'm pretty sure yours is bigger."

"Yeah, you're probably right." She agrees. Smooth Max, smooth. Isabel continues to walk around my room and stops in front of the window to look out. She starts playing with her necklace and I know she's still worried about fitting in here.

"It is going to be all right, you know that." I tell her. She stops fiddling with her necklace, looks at me surprised for a second and then turns fully to face me.

"Yeah, I know. Mom says we have a meeting with the High School tomorrow to register. West Roswell High. Go Comets." She says in a fake enthusiastic voice.

"What time is Dad getting here tomorrow?"

"He's driving the car down with the movers tomorrow and I think he's already recruited a brave young soul to drive your jeep down too." She says with a laugh.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask affronted.

"Dude, Max your jeep is an accident waiting to happen. It's already broken down on me twice."

"That's because you're not nice to him." I tell her seriously.

"Listen to yourself Max; you talk about that car as if it were a person." She tells me as if I'm the crazy one. Need I remind her of the whole Christmas Nazi incident?

"Yeah, and notice it hasn't broken down on me once." I say with a smirk.

"Whatever." She says walking to the door. "Get ready though. We're going out to eat."

"Where?" I ask. It makes sense that we're going out. I mean none of our stuff is here yet.

"I don't know, some place called the Crashdown Café. Mom said we passed it on the way to the house. Anyway, hurry up. We're gonna leave in ten minutes." She tosses over her shoulder as she leaves my room.

Liz POV

"What happened?" Kyle asks anxiously as I walk out. He must have seen the dazed and confused expression on my face. Did that really just happen? "What's wrong? Did they suspend you?" Kyle's really freaking out now, and if I wasn't so confused over what just happened, I'd use it to my advantage. Oh who am I kidding?

"Oh my gosh Kyle!" I say starting to hyperventilate and pouring out the fake tears. Okay, undivided attention, check.

"Liz, are you okay? What did the principal say?" Crazy with worry, check.

"Kyle!" I sob, throwing myself into his arms. "It was so sniff so sob horrible!" Officially uncomfortable with the whole emotional breakdown, check.

"Liz, um… geez what am I supposed to say?" He whispers to himself as he awkwardly pats me on the back. "Um…I'm sure it'll be okay Liz, just tell me what happened." I start crying harder and cling to his shirt.

"Liz… come on, I'll do anything, just tell me!" Bingo.

"Any- sniff thing?" I had to stifle a giggle.

"Well yeah…"

"Promise?"

"Yeah I promise…"

"Even sniff let me sniff borrow your car tonight?" I ask in my, what Maria calls, scared little girl voice. For a second I thought it wasn't going to work. Kyle loves that car more than anything-.

"Sure Liz, just tell me what's wrong." Kyle tells me getting frustrated. I don't even think he's fully realized that he agreed to let me borrow his precious car for the night. Bambi. Immediately I dried up the tears.

"Thanks Kyle! You can drop off the car after school." I tell him with a smile.

"Wait…Huh?" Kyle asks confused. Giving me this, what the heck just happened look. "So what happened in there?"

Flashback

"So, Ms. Parker, I assume you know why you're here." Mom's going to kill me.

"Yes Mr. Porter, if you'll just let me-."

"What I don't understand is why you're here. You're a bright young girl and you've never gotten in trouble like this before."

"Yes, I completely understand, but-."

"That's why I'm going to let this go with a warning."

"I'm sorry, I know I totally deserve- come again?"

"Liz, I know you're a good student and I'm willing to let this go but I need your help with something. There are two new students starting high school here tomorrow and I need someone to show them around. I would like you to show them around." That's it? No detention? No suspension? All I have to do is show some kids around school tomorrow?

"Sure Mr. Porter! Is that all?" I asked hopefully. This is great, wait till I tell Maria, she won't believe me.

"Yes Ms. Parker, you're free to go. See Evelyn on your way out and she'll right you a pass for class." I turn around relieved and quickly start to make my way out the door. "Oh, uh… Ms. Parker?" Oh no, he's going to tell me I really do have detention isn't he?

"Yes, Mr. Porter?" I ask, turning back to face him.

"Try to keep your thoughts to yourself." He tells me.

"Uh… sure thing Mr. Porter." I reassure him and quickly head out the door. Doesn't he know that's what I've been trying to all day?

End Flashback

"He let you off with a warning and all you have to do is show two new kids around school tomorrow!" Kyle asks skeptically.

"Yep." I tell him smugly. "And I get to borrow Bambi tonight." I add. Oh I am good.

"Wait, wait, wait… I agreed to that all under false pretenses." He tells me folding his arms across his chest.

"Uh uh Kyle." I tell him shaking my head. "A promise is a promise besides aren't you always saying material possessions only clutter the mind anyway?" Ha ha ha! He has no answer for that. Bet he didn't expect his words to come back and bite him in the butt. "Just drop the car off at the Crashdown later." I tell him, walking out of the office door.

"But wait, Liz! How am I supposed to get to the party tonight?" He shouts after my retreating figure.

"Just catch a ride with Michael!" I shout back. And with that said I head back to Psychology.

Max POV

The bells above the door ring as we walk through the doors of the café. I've got to say that I've never been in an alien themed restaurant before. We've only been here two hours and already I'm starting to notice the glaring differences between Roswell and Albuquerque, but already I find myself liking Roswell.

"Wow this is nice." My mother says leading us over to a booth and sitting down. Isabel sits next to her and I take a seat across from them. A tall middle-aged man walks up to us to take our order.

"Hello, I'm Jeff Parker. I'm the manager of the Crashdown café. One of our waitresses called in sick so I'll be taking your order today. Uh… shouldn't you kids be in school?" He asks taking in the sight of Isabel and I sitting with our mother.

"Nice to meet you Jeff. This is a nice place you have here. I'm Diane Evans and these are my kids Max and Isabel. We just moved to Roswell."

"Oh, well welcome to Roswell." Jeff says smiling warmly.

"Thank you. Yes, actually Max and Isabel are starting school at West Roswell High tomorrow."

"Oh really? My kids go there." Jeff said laughing. "I have a son and a daughter about your age." He says, addressing Isabel and I for the first time. "Oh I'm sorry, you guys must be hungry, let me get your orders." He turns to look at me. "So what'll you have?" I take a moment to peruse the menu and tell him my order.

"I'll have a galaxy sub with space fries and a cherry coke." He turns to face my mom and Isabel.

"And for you ladies?"

"I'll have a Sigourney Weaver with an alien blast." Isabel answers while closing her menu.

"And I'll have the Will Smith burger with a…cosmic cola." My mom says laughing. "This really is a great place you have here."

"Thank you, I'll be right back with your drinks." Jeff says heading in the direction of the kitchen but turning back he says, "Hey, I have an idea, why don't you kids come back tonight and you can meet kids? Huh?" I turn to look at Isabel. Before she can hide it I see the insecurity on her face. She quickly masks the insecurity and turns to face Jeff nodding her head in assent. She's trying.

"Sure." I find myself answering. My mom smiles at me.

"Okay then, I'll see you kids around five." He says and then retreats to get our drinks.

"Well that went well." My mother says happily from her seat.

West Roswell High

Lunch time

Maria POV

I stealthily make my way down the deserted hallways making sure no one sees me as I slip into the eraser room. As soon as I enter, two strong arms wrap around my waist and turn me around. Soft lips attack mine in the dark and I use all my will to push the owner of those lips away.

"Wait, we need to talk. Liz, Serena and Alex almost found out about us today."

"What!" He exclaims. He steps fully away and folds his arms across his chest. "What happened?" He asks.

"Well, Liz found the note you wrote to me, asking me to meet you here." I tell him, waiting for another explosion. He surprises me though and when he asks softly,

"What did you tell them?

"I told them that I was feeling lonely and depressed lately and I was writing love notes to myself to cheer me up."

"And they believed that?" He asked surprised.

"Well no… but it was the only thing I could think of at the moment." He starts to laugh and pulls my body back towards his for another kiss. Again I push him away. "You know eventually we're going to have to tell them, and I'd like it to be before the wedding." That got his attention, he pushes me away and looks at me like I'm crazy.

"What! We've been going out for two weeks and already you're planning our wedding?" He asks in horror.

"No you idiot, my mom's wedding!" Geez. Some guys are just dense. "I want you to be my date for the wedding. I want to be able to dance with you." I say pulling him to me for another kiss.

"Okay, I promise, we'll tell them before your mom's wedding." He tells me running his hands soothingly up and down my arms.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you." I tell him. I look down at my watch. "Crap, I gotta go. Liz is probably wondering where I am." I kiss him quickly on the cheek and rush out of the room. I only hope Liz doesn't figure out where I've been.

Just as I'm walking out the doors to that lead to the quad I see Liz walking towards me.

"Maria, where have you been? Lunch is almost over." Uh… hurry Deluca. Think of something good.

"I had to finish something for my chemistry class in the library." I tell her. And the lies just keep on coming. I hope she believes me. "So, how'd it go with the principal?" I ask her hoping to distract her.

"You're not going to believe me." She tells me with a smile.

"What?" I ask. I'm definitely interested now. She was supposed to go to the principal's office because she was in trouble but she's smiling. She proceeds to tell me the whole story.

"You're right, I don't believe you." This is so unfair.

"Yeah and the best part is we get to borrow Bambi tonight." Wait a minute.

"Kyle let you borrow Bambi?" I ask in disbelief. Kyle loves that car.

"Let me borrow, tricked him into letting me borrow it, same thing. Either way, tonight we ride in style.


	6. Chapter 6

Yay: ) A review! Thank You Red-rumm. You've made me so happy I'm going to post a new chapter right now just for you: ) So here you go peoples. Chapter 3c.

Chapter 3c

Michael POV

"Michael, have you seen your sister?" I look up from the grill where the hamburgers are sizzling to look at my dad.

"What do I look like, her keeper?" I guess so because my dad sends me an angry glare and I tell him what I know. "Yeah she left about five minutes ago. Why?"

"I have some people I want you two to meet." Oh not again. I groan aloud.

"Dad no. Not again. The last time you and Mom tried to set Liz and me up on dates Liz got stranded in the desert by her date and my date had a totally unhealthy obsession with Kermit the frog." I'm not going through that again. Do you know how many times I had to listen to 'It's not easy being green'?

"No Michael, this is nothing like that. These kids just moved to Roswell and I wanted them to meet some kids their age." He tells me. "And don't worry, after those disastrous dates your mother and I have agreed to stop setting you guys up." He tells me looking embarrassed. Thank you!

"Okay. So when do you want us to meet them?" I ask. Hey it couldn't hurt.

"Right now actually, they're sitting in booth six." I turn my gaze to booth six and see a guy and a girl my age sitting there.

"I have to finish my shift first but after-."

"Don't worry; I'll finish up for you." My dad tells me putting on an apron and shooing me out of the kitchen. "Go talk to them." My dad pushes me in their direction.

"Okay, okay I'm going." I walk to booth six and introduce myself. "Hey, so I here you guys are new in Roswell. I'm Michael Parker." I say holding my hand out to shake the guy's hand.

"Hey, yeah. I'm Max Evans and this is my sister Isabel." He says shaking my hand.

"Mind if I sit down?" I ask. Isabel looks at me and looks behind my shoulder like she's waiting for something. Oh right, Liz.

"Sorry, my sister's not here right now or else you could meet her. She's actually getting ready for-."

"Michael!" I'm interrupted as Kyle comes barreling through the doors of the Crashdown looking distressed. "Michael, she has her! She has Bambi! You've got to help me. Bambi's in danger!" He yells grabbing my shirt and shaking me.

"Kyle. Kyle!" I say smacking him once on the cheek. "Pull yourself together."

"Thanks, I needed that." He says coming to his senses, or so I thought until he starts up again. "But Michael you need to help me. What if I never see Bambi again?"

"Kyle, what are you talking about?" I turn to look at Max and Isabel to see that they are just as confused as I am.

"Are you talking about that little deer in that Disney movie?" Isabel asks confused.

"Are you kidding me?" Kyle turns to address Isabel. "Bambi is way more important than any deer." He tells her as if it's common knowledge.

"What is she your girlfriend or something?" Max asks.

"Heck no!" Kyle yells. "Bambi's my car."

"Great," Isabel mumbles. "Another guy who talks about his car as if it were a person."

"Bambi's not just any car! Michael you have to help me. She must be so scared right now. She's not used to strangers driving her."

"Calm down Kyle, who has your car?" Its official, Kyle's cracked.

"Liz does. She's going to ruin my baby."

"You're right, you should worry." At Kyle's horrified look I start to laugh. "I'm kidding Kyle. Liz is a good driver. You've driven with her before remember? She won't wreck your car." This seems to calm him down. "Why does she have your car anyways?"

"She tricked me into letting her borrow it." He says with a sour look on his face.

"How exactly did she do it this time?" I ask amused. This guy is so gullible when it comes to Maria and Liz.

"It's a long story; anyways can I get a ride to the party tonight?"

"Sure man. Oh, this is Max and Isabel." I say turning to introduce the two sitting with me. "Max, Isabel, this is Kyle."

"Hey, nice to meet you." Kyle says shaking their hands.

"Max and Isabel just moved here to Roswell." I tell Kyle. Kyle gets this look of recognition on his face and turns back to face Max and Isabel.

"You two must be the new students that Liz is supposed to show around school tomorrow."

"Who's Liz?" Max asked.

"Oh, Liz is my twin sister." I tell them.

"You're twins?" This question comes from Isabel.

"Yeah; As much as I hate to admit it we did share a womb." I tell her. "So how about you guys? How old are you?"

"Well Isabel is older than me about 10 months so we're still in the same grade since she was born in January and I was born in November. We're both juniors this year." Max tells us.

"So where'd you guys move from?" Kyle asks.

"From Albuquerque, we just moved here today actually." Isabel answers politely.

"Hey I got an idea."

"Wow Kyle what an accomplishment." I tell him patting him on the back.

"Hey! I'm serious! Why don't you guys-," he says gesturing towards Max and Isabel, "come to the party with us?" I see Max look to Isabel and she nods.

"Sure, that'd be great. But my car doesn't get here until tomorrow so…" He lets the sentence hang.

"That's no problem; you can catch a ride with me. Just give me your address and I'll pick you guys up at about seven. Does that sound good?" They nod and Max starts to write their address down on a napkin and hands it to me.

"Max." Isabel says tugging at his jacket sleeve. "Come on, if we're going to go, we have to go home and get ready. Thanks Michael, see you later." She says dragging Max out the door.

"Bye!" Kyle yells after them. "Well they were nice." Kyle says turning to me.

"So Kyle… How exactly did my dear sister trick you into letting her borrow your car?" I ask turning to face him again.

"Um… Well…" Kyle laughs nervously. "You see it all started when Liz got sent to the principal's office…"


	7. Chapter 7

Hey Guys! I am back once again bringing you another part of my story. Yay, it's a 3-day weekend! That means more time to write another part. SO anyways, here ya go. Enjoy. : )

Chapter 4: First Impressions Are Never True

Serena POV

'What the heck?' I have no words as I see the man who had just walked by with his family tell his son to walk back, grab the envelope and run and then I stare motionless as the boy does as he's told.

"Man, people today." I look over at Alex to see a similar reaction on his face. Out of all the people we've seen today, this family has got to be the craziest.

_We're going down, down in an earlier round and sugar we're going down swinging-._

I'm distracted by my phone ringing the familiar Fallout Boy song and quickly reach into my purse to answer it. "Roswell crematorium, you kill 'em we grill 'em. How can I help you?"

"Yes, I have a rather annoying cousin who keeps reading my journal and I was wondering if you offered any hit men to take care of things like that." That little witch.

"Yes, I'm sorry to inform you that our services only include the cremation, sorry." I turn back to look at Alex who's grinning at me. Finally I can't keep it in any longer and break out laughing. "Hey Liz, so you really do want to kill me off. I knew it!" I tell her unable to keep the amusement out of my voice.

"What can I say, you ate the last bagel. Everyone knows that's punishable by death." She tells me in all seriousness. "So what's going on? Do you need a ride to the party tonight?"

"Nah babe, Alex and I are working on our project for Psychology and then we're going to swing by the party when we're done."

"Okay, but you're going to miss out. We get to drive Bambi tonight." What! How the heck did that happen? Kyle loves that car! Before I can question this apocalyptic event she continues. "So, how's the project going? What'd you guys decide to do for your project?"

"Well, our project is about how many people would take or open an envelope they found sitting on the ground if it said don't open. You wouldn't believe how many people opened the envelope! Oh geez, and there was this family of four that walked by just a minute ago right? And the father turned to the son and told him to grab the letter and run. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen."

"Sounds like fun-. Holy crap, Serena I gotta go. I'll see you later okay?" She tells me hanging up the phone before I can even say bye.

Max POV

"Max, Isabel, Michael's here!" My mom yells up to us from the bottom of the stairs. I grab my jacket from the chair and hurry down the hall to Isabel's room.

"Iz, are you ready?" I ask knocking on her door.

"Yeah, I rushed back to get ready and then I remembered I don't have my luggage."

"You look fine." I tell her. "Come on, let's go, Michael's waiting."

Liz POV

"Sounds like fun-. Holy crap, Serena I gotta go. I'll see you later okay?" I say quickly hanging up the phone. I don't usually hang up on my cousin like that but this is…is… This is beyond words.

"Uh… Liz; is this what I think it is?" Maria asks. All I can do is stare at the picture in her hand. Holy crap.

"Okay, this is just weird." I say looking down at the picture of my cousin that Maria has just pulled from Kyle's glove compartment.

"You don't think he likes her, do you?" Maria asks.

"Well why else would he have a picture of her in his car?"

"Do you think she likes him?" I'm sorry I need to take a minute. This is just weird. Kyle likes Serena? "Liz?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think Serena likes Kyle too?" I finally take my eyes from the picture to look at Maria sitting next to me in Kyle's car. I don't like the look in her eyes.

"Maria." I say warning her to leave them alone.

"What? Don't you want our friends to be happy?"

"Yes I want our friends to be happy, that's why I don't want you try to set them up. Remember the last time you tried to set someone up?"

"Hey! That was a one time thing." She tells me offended. What I'm talking about is the last time that Maria tried to set someone up she ended up dating the guy instead. "Besides, it's not like I'm gonna date Kyle." True, but she won't stop if I tell her this.

"But we don't even know if Kyle likes Serena-."

"Liz, he's got a picture of her in his glove compartment." Okay she's got me there.

"Yeah, but we don't know if Serena likes Kyle." Ha take that. She has no argument for that.

"But what if she does? Wouldn't it be worth it to find out?" Crap. Sorry Serena and Kyle. I tried.

"Okay, what do we have to do?" I've gone over to the dark side. And with that said I pull out of the driveway and head for the Old Soap Factory, Maria filling me in on the plan along the way.

Max POV

"Hey Michael." I say getting into the back seat with Isabel. "Where's Kyle?"

"We're going to pick him up next." Michael says, switching gears and pulling out of our driveway. Five minutes later we pull up to a house with what looks like a police SUV in front of it. A minute later we see Kyle running out of the house and jumping into the front of Michael's car like the hounds of hell were at his heels.

"Hey Kyle, what's going on? Are you in trouble or something?" Isabel asks gesturing to the police car parked in front of his house. Michael starts to laugh.

"Nah man, Kyle's dad is the sheriff."

"Then why were you running out of the house so fast then?" I ask curiously.

"Dude, if you saw your dad making out on the couch with his girlfriend who is also one of your best friend's mothers, you would be running out of that house too." He said with a shudder causing the rest of us to laugh.

"Sorry man." Michael says patting Kyle on the back.

"Not as sorry as I am for walking in on them. It's like every time I see them making out it takes a year off my life, and at the rate I'm going, I'll never make it to twenty."

"You mentioned your dad was dating one of your best friends' mothers." Isabel prods him curiously. "He's not dating Michael's mom right?" Michael and Kyle both laugh at that.

"No Isabel, my parents are still happily married." Michael informs her. "Kyle's dad is dating our friend Maria's mom."

"Who's Maria? Isabel asks. Probably glad to hear that there are more girls her age she can become friends with.

"Maria, well, how do you explain Maria?" Kyle starts then turns to regard Michael.

"You can't explain Maria." Michael states as if it's a fact that Kyle should know.

"Well anyway, Liz, Maria and I became friends in the fourth grade before I met this power ranger here." Kyle continues.

"Hey as I seem to remember you liked them too." Michael reminds him much to Kyle's chagrin.

"Will Maria be at the party?" Isabel asks. Kyle, just grateful to be saved from further embarrassment, quickly answers her.

"Yeah she'll be there. She's coming with Liz." Isabel brightens with this news. "Speaking of Liz…" Kyle starts with a smug.

"Kyle, you know if you say anything about Liz and she finds out, she'll kill you right?" Michael asks him. Kyle ignores his warning and continues.

"Well there was this one time freshman year when Liz and I were going out…"

"Kyle she told you never to tell anyone about that night." Michael warns. I can't help but be interested now. If he's not supposed to tell anyone then it's gotta be good right?

"What happened?" I ask.

"Well, first-."

"Kyle. I'm telling you man, stop now. I'm just looking out for your safety." Michael interrupts. All of a sudden Michael's cell phone starts to ring.

"It's Liz." He says looking at the screen.

"It's like she knew I was going to tell the story." Kyle says horrified and then shrinks away from the phone like it's going to attack him. Michael just shakes his head and answers his phone.

"Yeah; Okay." Michael says. And then I guess Liz must have asked to speak with Kyle because next thing we know he's handing the phone to Kyle. Kyle's eyes get wide and he hesitantly grabs the phone and brings it to ear afraid of the worst.

"Hello?" Kyle answers nervously. "Sure, thanks. See ya later." He says as a look of relief crosses his face. At our questioning looks he fills us in. "Liz had to fill up Bambi's gas tank because it was on empty." He quickly closes the phone and hands it back to Michael.

"Liz said she's on her way to the party and she'll meet us near the entrance." Michael says turning to face us. Finally we get to meet this Liz they've been talking so much about.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys! I'm back yet again with another part of my story... ; ) I'd just like to say thanks to all you feedbackers!

Special Thanks To:

chrmd1: Thanks so much. I'm glad you like the story!

Red-rumm: Yes, Kyle really does need to learn how to say no, but when it comes to Liz and Maria that proves to be very hard to do.

Now, without further ado...chapter 4b.

Chapter 4b

Maria POV

As soon as we arrive at the party, I can't help but look around to see if the guys have arrived. Okay, to see if Michael has arrived. Dude if Liz knew what I was thinking-.

"I don't think they're here yet." Liz says when she notices me looking around like a crazy person. I think that by the time I got up on the chair to look around for him everyone thought I was crazy. Hey, everyone may think I'm crazy but Liz actually congratulates me when I spot Kyle in the wild crowd.

"Kyle!" I try to scream out over the music but my voice is sucked up in to the din of voices around me and before I know it Kyle has moved out of view. Someone needs to get that boy a bell, or maybe a tracking chip. Yeah, we could insert it into his belly like they do with dogs.

I get down from the chair and pull Liz in the direction I saw Kyle heading.

"Maria, let's just stay over here. We told them that we'd meet them near the front of the factory, they'll find us." But I'm not convinced. I mean we're talking about Kyle and Michael here. I mean I love those boys, but they suck at where's Waldo; what makes her think they'll be any better at 'Where Are Liz and Maria'?

"I don't know Liz, I don't think they'll ever find us if we don't help them. Besides don't you have a man to find?" I tell her suggestively. She starts to blush and I push her again towards the direction I last saw Kyle only this time she lets me. As soon as we find Kyle we can put in to motion 'Operation Buddha Love'. Okay so obviously it needs a new name but there's only so much I can do, for now, it works.

Five minutes later.

"I don't see them anywhere; do you?" Liz asks turning to look at me. Okay, so I might have been wrong. I didn't get that good of a look at the guy so it might not have been Kyle; of course I'm not going to tell Liz that. Out of the corner of my eye I spot Michael and I notice he's alone. Where's everyone else?

"Hey Liz. Why don't we split up and keep looking for them? You've got your cell phone, and I've got mine so whoever finds them can just call the other." I tell her. Okay, don't look at me like that. I know it's horrible; but so is not being able to kiss your secret boyfriend for several hours. "I'll take this way," I say pointing in the direction I saw Michael, "and you take that way." I say pointing in the opposite direction. "Who knows," I continue,"you might even find Jay along the way." I tell her with a smile. Oh I'm a bad friend. But who knows, maybe she actually will find Jay or at least Kyle, if he isn't with Michael. Consoling myself with that fact and with the fact that I will very soon be able to kiss my boy I say bye to Liz.

"See ya babe. Call me if you find them."

"I will." She says walking off into the crowd. Oh yeah it's official, I'm a bad friend. But all my guilt melts away as I turn and head to where Michael's standing.

Max POV

About ten minutes later and three embarrassing stories about Liz and Maria we get to the party. Michael is already planning Kyle's funeral. We walk in and immediately we're surrounded by the loud music pumping through the factory.

"Well, I know they're here because I saw Bambi out front." Kyle announces.

"Well I don't see them anywhere. They told us to meet them at the front of the factory." Michael tells me. We all start looking around but I have to admit I don't know who I'm looking or what they look like.

"Michael, what do Maria and Liz look like?" Thank you Isabel. See my sister really comes through.

"Maria's got long blondish brown hair and green eyes and Liz has long brown hair and brown eyes. They're both on the short side but don't tell them I said that if you find them." He says the last part desperately. I'm starting to wonder how these two small women can strike fear into the hearts of Kyle and Michael. They sound more like hit men for the mafia than teenage girls. With the description Michael gives us, we split up looking around for his sister and Maria. Isabel sticks close to me and Michael and Kyle go their separate ways. Michael's informed me the reason he's not going with Kyle is because if he finds Maria and Liz and they find out that he told all those embarrassing stories he wants to be as far away from him as possible.

"Well, good luck guys. I'm going this way. If you find them, tell Liz to call me on my cell phone." Michael says as he walks away.

Isabel and I continue our search for the short and apparently dangerous girls. Michael told us that most likely they'll be together so we head even deeper into to the crowd to continue looking for them.

Liz POV

Where are they! Geez, I've been looking for them for nearly a half an hour. I can't believe Maria hasn't had any luck yet either, I mean she would have called me if she found them. I haven't even found Jay yet either. I was supposed to meet him fifteen minutes ago. I bet Tess had everything to do with that. That gerbil needs to learn how to let her brother live her own life. I hope he doesn't think I stood him up.

I'm so frustrated over not being able to find them that when the idea occurs to me it's like a revelation. Why haven't we tried calling Michael on his cell phone to ask him where they are? It's such an easy solution that I mentally kick myself for not thinking of it sooner. I pull out my cell phone and begin to dial Michael's number when someone bumps into me from behind making me drop my cell phone; which then someone proceeds to step on. Today is just not my day. I pick up the pieces of my broken cell phone and turn in rage to the person who bumped into me.

"I am… so sorry." The mean, horrible person stutters. I slowly bring my eyes up to look at the person. Stupid, loser… hottest guy I've ever seen!

"See something you like?" He asks in a smug voice. Crap, he caught me staring. Come on Liz, get a hold of yourself. This guy just made you break your cell phone. The only way you had of finding the rest of your friends. You're here to finally have a date with the guy you've had a crush on for five years. Who cares if he's really hot, has the most beautiful eyes you've seen, and a body to die for. No, hot guy…baaaaaad! Think of Jay. My thoughts and that stupid smug look on his face finally pull me back to reality. I square my shoulders and glare at him. Good Liz, good.

"How dare you! You bumped into me and made me drop my cell phone!" Mean hot guy. No, bad, Liz.

"I said I was sorry.

"Yeah well, sorry doesn't magically just put my phone back together." His eyes have tiny flecks of gold in them. No, stop. He notices me staring again and he gets another smirk on his face which only gets me angrier. Then his next words take me completely by surprise.

"Would you like to go out with me sometime?" What!

"No! What the heck is wrong with you! First you bump into me, causing me to break my cell phone and now you're asking me out! No! Heck no! Besides I'm meeting someone." I yell indignantly.

"You know, you look familiar. Have we met before?" He asks me. Whoa, I almost fell for that one. He looked serious for a moment.

"Well if that's your usual opening line I suggest you work on it." Does he think that line actually works?

"Are you sure? What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't." I answer his question coldly. He just starts to laugh. Stupid, hot, jerk. Jay, think of Jay. I'm not usually like this, but this guy is just something else.

"Come on; at least tell me your name." Yeah right.

"Sorry, I have to go. I'm meeting someone that I actually like." I say turning on my heel and stomping away. I'm pretty sure my exit would have been a lot smoother if he hadn't caught me turning around for a last look. What? He was hot.

Maria POV

"Hey." I say coming up from behind and kissing Michael on the cheek.

"Hey, where's Liz?" Michael asks looking around, expecting to see her just walk up.

"She's kind of off looking for you guys." I tell him with a smile. "Well, and Jay."

"Well, in that case…" He says leaning down to take my lips in a soft kiss.

"Mmmm… so where's Buddha boy?"

"Off looking for you and Liz coincidentally." He says with a smile, kissing me again. You know I could get used to this. Although the feeling doesn't last long when we hear someone clear their throat. We pull apart quickly and expecting to look up and see Liz, I'm surprised to look up and see a tall, beautiful blonde. But before I say anything she turns to look at Michael.

"Michael, we can't find them." What! Who the heck is this and why is she talking to Michael? Before I can control my anger I smack Michael upside the head.

"Oww! Geez Maria! What was that for!" Michael asked angrily.

"Who the heck is this and how do you know each other?" I ask heatedly. However, the girl is the first to answer.

"Oh you must be Maria." Blondie says warmly. Yeah, we've established that, now who the heck are you? "Michael, you didn't tell me you two were dating." She says with a smile. I turn to look at Michael. He meets a beautiful blonde and he doesn't tell her he's taken? I glare at him.

"What, it's not like it was common knowledge." He says trying to defend himself.

"Oh, I think you've got the wrong idea. I'm Isabel. My brother and I just moved to Roswell today and Michael and Kyle were just showing us around. We were actually just out looking for you and Liz." I take a moment to process what she just told me and when it sinks in I smile and stick my hand out to shake hers.

"Maria Deluca. Nice to meet you. Sorry for jumping to conclusions there. Welcome to Roswell."

"Thanks, and don't worry I'd probably do the same thing if I were in your situation." She says taking my hand.

"Sorry, I didn't tell you Maria and I were dating, it's just that no one else really knows we're dating either." Michael says and I feel bad for being mad at him because it's true. No one else really does know we're dating.

"Oh." Isabel says awkwardly. "Well, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to." She rushes to assure us.

"Thanks." I'm starting to like her already.

"So, if you're here, where's Liz?" She asks curiously.

"Oh, uh…she's off looking for Michael and Kyle." I tell her. "You know, actually, I'll just call her right now and she can meet us over here." I say pulling out my cell phone. I dial her number and immediately get her voicemail. Hmm… maybe she's with Jay. I leave her a message and hang up the phone.

"She's not answering, but maybe she found Jay and just didn't want to be interrupted. I left her a message saying we were over here."

"Who's Jay?"

"Only the guy Liz has been in love with for the past five years. He finally asked her out today."

"That's great." Isabel says enthusiastically.

"So Isabel, where's Max?" Michael asks, tired of being ignored.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 4c

Max POV

"Hey guys." I say walking towards the spot where Michael, Isabel, and another blonde are sitting.

"Max, where have you been?" Isabel asks. I guess I did take longer than I told her, but what started with me looking for Michael's sister and her friend turned into me looking for that girl I bumped into. She's really cute when she's pissed off. I mean I'm usually not like that and I definitely don't ask out random girls but she's just…I don't know…different.

"I…uh…met someone." I tell them.

"You met someone?" Isabel asks shocked. I mean I can understand where she's coming from, I really haven't gone out with a lot of girls.

"Yeah, I bumped into her, literally."

"So what's her name?" This question comes from Michael.

"I…uh…don't know. I kinda pissed her off because when I bumped into her she broke her phone."

"Wow, so you don't know her name, and you defaced her personal property? She must love you already." I hear the blonde sitting by Michael say sarcastically. "You must be Max. Maria Deluca, nice to meet ya." Ahhh, so this is Maria. "So Max, do you usually break girls cell phones when you like them or is this a one time thing?" She asks hopping off her stool and walking over to me. You know I'm beginning to see why Michael and Kyle are afraid of her. Hoping to get all the attention off of me I have to think fast. Should I? It's Kyle's fault anyway.

"So Maria, is it true that you-."

"Hey guys." Kyle says walking out from the crowd. "It's crazy out there. Hey Maria, where've you been?"

"Hold on a minute Kyle, Max was just going to ask me something." She says turning back to face me.

"Well I just wanted to know if it was true that during freshman year you- what the heck Kyle!" I yell as I'm shoved back into the crowd.

"Max, what do you think you're doing? If you value your life you'll just pretend that you never heard that story. Do you know what Maria will do to me if she finds out I told you about that?" He says fearfully, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one's listening in. I glance back over his shoulder to take another look at Maria. She doesn't look dangerous… But then again, looks can be deceiving.

"Okay Kyle, I won't tell her, but if you don't get her off my back I can't make any guarantees." I tell him.

"Thanks man." Kyle says dusting himself off and walking back over to where the group is standing there staring at us.

"So, what was that all about?" Maria asks looking at us suspiciously.

"Max was just informing me that he's attracted to men and was trying to ask me out. Sorry man, I don't swing that way." What! How does get her off my back translate in to telling her I'm gay? Everyone's eyes got wide and they all turned to look at me.

"Wow, Max I didn't know, uh…" Maria stammers out. Come on, I just told you I met a girl!

"That's not true, you can't honestly believe him!" I shout gesturing to Kyle.

"Max, I know you're just embarrassed that I turned you down, but honestly, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of because it's not true!" I yell out. I turn around to look at Isabel who is just shocked at what has happened and a glance at Michael tells me I won't get any help from him. He's too busy laughing at my expense. Okay, this means war.

"Max, Max, it's okay, really." Shut up Kyle!

"Maria, I didn't ask Kyle out, and I'm not gay. Kyle dragged me over there because he didn't want you to know that he told me and Isabel about that time freshman year when you-."

"Kyle!" Maria yells turning her now angry gaze on the football player trying to sneak away. "I told you that you were to take that to your grave." She yells out. Okay, I'm beginning to see why Michael and Kyle are so afraid of her.

"Maria, he he umm… you see the thing is…"

"I don't want to hear it Kyle!" Owww. That has got to hurt. I wince as I see Maria hit Kyle upside the head painfully. Michael is no longer laughing at my expense anymore but at the sight of the smaller blonde girl hitting his friend.

"And you!" Maria turns her blazing green eyes on Michael's laughing form. The surprise and fear that registers on Michael's face as he realizes her anger is directed towards him now, is priceless.

"Owww!" Michael yells as she smacks him on the head too.

"Why didn't you stop him!" She shouts.

"I tried to stop him, but he doesn't listen to me-." Michael tries to explain. From behind me I hear the Kyle mutter something like 'that's the second time today' before he sits down on a stool and sulks. Suddenly the sound of a phone ringing stops Maria's tirade and she rushes to her bag to answer it. The relief is visible on Michael's face. We all listen in to hear who Michael's savior is.

"Hey Serena are you here already-. Liz? What are you doing calling on Serena's cell phone? What?" Maria sends a glare my way. What? What'd I do? She starts to move out into the crowd and everyone looks at me confused.

"Hey I'm in the dark as much as you guys are." I tell them all quickly. And with the attention finally off me, I turn my thoughts back to the girl I met earlier.

Liz POV

Grrrrr… Who does that guy think he is! Wait, did I just grrrr? That lunkhead. Ooh if I ever see his cute butt again… I fume as I stomp off into the ever raging crowd of dancing bodies.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone!" I yell as someone grabs on to my arm from behind.

"You did? Sorry, I thought… I'll just go then." Huh? I turn swiftly around to see Jay walking away.

"Jay! Oh no, I thought you were someone else. Don't leave." I tell him quickly and I smile when he turns around and closes the distance between us.

"I was beginning to think I'd never find you."

"Same here, but I'm really glad you did." I say grabbing his hand and pulling over to somewhere we can talk. I pull him over towards the door where there are less people and I lean against the edge of a table. I start to blush as I realize that I'm still holding his hand, but he doesn't make any move to pull away so I don't either.

"So, I heard you were sent to the principal's office." He says breaking the silence.

"You uh… heard about that did you?" I ask starting to turn an even darker shade of scarlet. I wonder if he also heard how excited I was to get that note from him. "Well, it wasn't really my fault…" I begin when I'm bumped from behind by a familiar annoying gerbil.

"Jay, there you are." Tess says sweetly and then her eyes fall on me. "What are you doing with her?" She asks glaring at me distastefully. Witch.

"We're on a date." My heart beats faster at his admission. When she doesn't immediately walk away he continues. "What do you want Tess?"

"We need to go home." She answers. "Mom and Dad are coming back tonight, or have you forgotten?" She asks smugly. A look of recognition crosses Jay's face and he turns to look at me.

"Sorry Liz, my parents are getting back from New York tonight and we're supposed to go have a late dinner with them." He tells me apologetically. At Tess's sneer, he pulls me aside. "I'm sorry; I really wanted tonight to happen-."

"Me too." I agree quickly.

"Maybe another time?" He asks hopefully.

"Yeah, sure. Go see your parents." I say giving him a little nudge and a smile.

"Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow." He says quickly pecking me on the cheek and walking over to where Tess was standing. He stops at the door and gives a final wave and he's gone. As soon as he disappears from my sight I allow myself to drop the fake smile. This night just sucks. I look down at the broken pieces of my cell phone in my hand and remember Tess's smug look as her and Jay left and before I know it I am forcing my way through the crowd desperate to find Maria. I need to leave. With my luck, if I stay any longer, something worse will happen. This time as I bump into people I don't apologize, I think I have every right to be rude. I search for not just Maria but any familiar face now. I breathe a heavy sigh of relief as I see the familiar form of Alex ten feet in front of me.

"Alex!" He turns around at the sound of my voice and as soon as he sees me he waves someone else in my direction as well. I almost cry as I see my cousin emerge from the crowd behind Alex. I watch as they quickly make their way towards me, well as quick as you can when you're surrounded by hundreds of dancing teenagers.

"Serena, I-." The sentence catches in my throat as I fight the urge to cry over my sucky night. No, I won't cry over this I tell myself and soon I feel my depression turn into anger. I just want to get out of here.

"Liz, are you okay?" Serena asks concerned looking back and forth between me and Alex. "How was your date-."

"Can we just go home, I really want to leave." I cut her off pulling the keys to Bambi out of my pocket and heading for the door.

"Liz!" Serena yells catching up with me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." I counter not wanting to hash out all my personal crap in front of an extremely large group of my peers. "Can I use your cell phone? I need to call Maria."

"Why can't you use yours?" She asks curiously. I hold up the mangled pieces of plastic in front of her face in explanation.

"Oh." She hands over her phone and as I dial Maria's number she tries to fill in a confused Alex. I tap my foot as I wait for Maria pick up. The sooner I get out of here the better. After the seventh ring I'm about to hang up when I hear Maria answer.

"Hey Maria." I say greeting the voice on the other end. "No, this is Liz." I rush to tell her when she calls me Serena. "Well, my phone is broken." I answer her. "Yeah, some idiot bumped into me and made me drop my phone and then someone stepped on it." I conveniently leave out the part that he was really cute and that he asked me out. Now's just not the time for this. All I wanna do is go home, watch a chick flick and eat some ice cream. I tune back into Maria's voice in time to hear her ask if I was okay. I wish everyone would stop asking me that. "No, I'm not okay, can we just go home?" I ask softly. I smile as Maria offers to beat a certain blonde to a pulp and says she'll meet me at the car. "Thanks 'Ria." I say using her nickname and hang up feeling a little better. I can taste that ice cream already. I turn back to Serena and Alex who are ready to leave with me as soon as Maria gets here.

"You guys don't have to leave just because I am. Maria's going to go home with me."

"Nope, this party's old anyways." Serena says and links her arm with mine. Then I quickly remember about Maria's and mine plan to get Kyle and Serena together. I guess operation 'Buddha love' will have to wait. I smile gratefully at my cousin and turn to face Alex. I notice he also moves to link his arm with mine.

"Alex, you really don't have to go. The rest of the guys are here you can call Michael and ask him where they are-." I'm cut off when he links his arm with mine anyway and I look meaningfully at him.

"Well, since we're all going to the same place, why don't you give Kyle the keys to Bambi and we'll all just go in my car." Alex offers and before I even ask Serena's forcing her cell phone into my hand. I quickly dial Michael's number and when I hear him grunt a 'hey' I ask to speak with Kyle. There's silence over the line except for the pulsing beat of the music in the background until I hear Kyle's voice answer.

"Hey Kyle, Maria, Serena, Alex and I are going to leave so meet me at the front and I'll give you the keys to Bambi-." I'm cut off as Kyle quickly agrees and hangs up after telling me he'll be there in a few minutes. I don't doubt that he will be, he couldn't have sounded more excited if you told him Barbie and Ken were getting back together. I laugh softly at the thought and once again hand Serena's phone to her. Now, all we have to do is wait.

Max POV

Michael's cell phone rings and breaks the silence that had fallen over us since Maria left and he quickly answers it, probably hoping to find out the reason for Maria's sudden exit. I look around to once again survey the group. Kyle is still sulking alone on his stool and Isabel moves to stand next to me. I watch Michael just after he's answered his cell phone move over to Kyle and hand it to him mouthing the name 'Liz'. Kyle grabs the phone from him and brings it to his ear.

"Yeah," He speaks into the phone. "Hey Liz." I watch as he listens to what she says and see his face brighten. "Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes." He says giddily and hangs up. We all look expectantly at him when he hands back Michael's phone looking like a little kid on Christmas day.

"What?" He asks confused seeing all our curious stares.

"What's going on and why are you so chipper all of a sudden?" Michael asks bluntly.

"Liz, Maria, Serena and Alex are leaving so Liz wants me to meet her out front so she can give me the keys to Bambi." Kyle says excitedly. At our silence he continues, "Come on, let's go. I told Liz I'd meet her in a few minutes." We all follow Kyle towards the entrance all for different reasons. Kyle over the sheer glee of getting Bambi back, Isabel and Michael to find out the reason for Maria's sudden exit and the reason Liz, Maria are leaving, and me; because I can't fight this strong urge to find out who this girl I've heard so much about is.

Before I know it we're stepping out into the cool desert air and I see at least twenty people standing outside talking. I look all around trying to catch a glimpse of Liz and almost don't notice the tall lanky kid walking towards us.

"Hey guys." He greets us with a smile. "Here are your keys Kyle." He says handing them over to a delighted Kyle. He finally notices Isabel and I and looks questioningly at Michael.

"Oh, sorry; Alex, this is Max and Isabel. Isabel, Max, this is Alex." Michael says making the introductions. "Max and Isabel just moved to Roswell."

"Oh, nice to meet you two," he said shaking my hand. Then turned to Isabel taking her hand, "My Lady," he said kissing the back of Isabel's hand. It takes Isabel by surprise and she starts to blush. But as quick as it happens Alex straightens and turns to leave. "Well, it was nice meeting you guys. I'll see you at school tomorrow?" Isabel nods emphatically to assure him and I begin to wonder if she likes him. But before I can give it anymore thought I'm shocked by the sight of the girl I bumped into earlier heading toward a black Toyota. Michael notices my staring and before he can ask I tell him.

"That's her." I whisper pointing to the girl. I didn't think I'd see her again tonight.

"Who?" Michael asked confused trying again to see where I was pointing.

"The girl I bumped into earlier. That's her. Now she's leaving and I still don't know her name." Michael finally notices who I'm pointing at and breaks out laughing. At my incredulous look he turns to me and answers my silent question.

"I don't think finding out who she is, is going to be a problem." He says trying to stifle his laughter seeing that I'm not amused. Wait a minute, it won't be a problem? Does he know her?

"Why? Do you know who she is?" I ask eagerly excited to find out.

"Yeah I know who she is. That's my sister." It's then I notice Alex get in the front seat of the Toyota.


	10. Chapter 10

Hey guys: ) How's everyone's weekend going? I'm back again with another chapter and I hope you like it. Thanks again to all you feedbackers!

Special Thanks to:

Cesca: It's definitely dreamer insured, but they don't get together right away...

Ashley: Welcome! I'm glad you like my story. I hope I answered your question in the last post.

Chapter 5: If First Impressions Suck, Second Ones Are Even Worse

Serena POV

"Yeah, sure Jay…I'll dance with you…mmm haha…yeah." What? I ignore the glare of the early morning sun through the window and look across the room to rest my gaze on my sleeping cousin. "Mmmm… Jay." What the heck? I rub the sleep from my eyes wondering if I'm somehow hallucinating. Liz is smiling like a lunatic and clutching a pillow tightly. Is she…Oh my gosh she is! She's drooling! Wait, she's starting to say something else. I listen intently hoping to hear something good. "Jay…mmm…did I tell you…" Part of me considers waking her up to save her from the embarrassment of what Michael will say if he hears her, but I quickly beat down that part of me and rush around the messy room looking for my purse. The Evil part of me has taken over and I pull out my cell phone and turn it to the video setting. I need to get this on camera. I focus the lens on Liz's sleeping form and I'm not disappointed as I soon here more mumbling. "He he…how happy…you make me?" Liz continues, grinning as more liquid rolls down her chin. I look eagerly at my cousin hoping for some more dirt.

"Come on Liz." I whisper under my breath. I need blackmail, or anything that will save me from Liz's wrath when she finds out I ruined her favorite shirt. Never moving the camera phone away from Liz I glance over to my bed on the other side of the room where I've sandwiched the stained shirt between the mattresses. I know it won't be long before she starts to wonder where it went…she hasn't even worn it yet.

"Mmm…" I turn quickly back to face Liz as her tone changes. Huh? A small frown mars Liz's face and I move closer to hear the cause. "…look hottie! Just cuz you're cute and asked me out does not mean I'm going to forget that you broke my cell phone." What? Confused, I silently urge her to go on so I can find out what she's dreaming about. After a few minutes of silence I turn off my cell phone staring dejectedly at Liz who has fallen into a deeper sleep. Damn. I hope this is enough. Turning back toward my bed I look at the glaring green numbers of my alarm clock. 5 am. Well, I'm not going to be falling back to sleep anytime soon. I mull it over in my head and finally head to the closet pulling out a change of clothes and head to the bathroom for a shower. Throwing one last glare at my cousin who can sleep through anything I shut the door.

I emerge from the shower half an hour later feeling refreshed and more awake than I was before. Only one thing bugs me now…who was this hottie that Liz was talking about? I remember Liz saying that some idiot bumped into her and made her drop her phone. Was there more to that story than she was telling us? I glance once more at the clock. 5:45. Crap! It's Friday. We have an early morning practice at 6:30. I grab my sweats off of my nightstand and rush into the bathroom to change. I run out two minutes later and my eyes fall on my sleeping cousin once again only this time I'm thinking of a way to wake her up rather than a way to blackmail her. I move towards her bed and trip over an ice cream carton, the only evidence left of last night's activities, and let out a string of curses loudly under my breath. A sigh and turn from Liz lets me know this isn't going to be easy, and I don't know why I thought it would be. Sighing heavily I gather the materials I'll need to wake her up. Three hits to the head with a pillow, a smack to the face, a couple tae bo moves, and a glass of water later Liz's groggy eyes meet mine.

"Serena?" She asks disoriented. "Why does my head hurt? And why's my bed wet?"

"Liz, we don't have time for questions!" I look at the clock again. We have precisely thirty-five minutes. "We have an early morning practice in about half an hour! You need to get ready!" I yell yanking her up and pushing her harshly into the bathroom. I cringe as I here a crash and Liz's curse. Ooops. Sometimes I don't know my own strength. Before Liz can yell at me though, I toss her, her sweats, shut the bathroom door and rush down to the kitchen for a bagel.

Liz POV

"Owww!" I yelled loudly as my hip collided with the bathroom sink. I got up slowly and rubbed the tender flesh knowing it was going to bruise later, but before I got the chance to yell at Serena I was assailed by clothes thrown at my face and I heard the bathroom door slam. Chicken. Vowing to get back at her later I hopped quickly into the shower to get ready. Furiously planning my method of revenge, I turned the handle all the way to hot and stepped under the spray hoping to wake up a little. "Serena!" I yelled angrily as the cold droplets pelted my skin. She used all the hot water! As quickly as I could I washed my hair, rinsed off and got out of the shower. Cousin's going down! Hoping to at least have time to scarf down a bagel I brush my hair into a ponytail, wash my face, brush my teeth, grab my gym bag and head down to the kitchen just in time to see Serena eat the last bite of the last bagel.

"Hey…Liz are you okay?" Serena asks apparently oblivious to the major crime she's just committed. As my angry eyes land on her empty plate she starts to back away.

"Liz, just calm down." She says while backing away slowly. Calm down, yeah right. I move to fill the space she has just vacated, planning her demise, my throbbing side and empty stomach in agreement. "Liz…umm…we have to…to go or we're going to be late." She answers glancing at the clock. Silence. "Look, if we hurry then we can stop by Starbucks on our way to practice. I'll buy you a bagel there I promise!" She yells in a last ditch effort to save herself.

"And a vanilla bean frap?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, of course." She agrees quickly. I pretend to have to think it over then grab the keys to Michael's car and move towards the door.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" With the promise of a bagel and a vanilla bean frap I head cheerily towards the car.

Max POV

I watch as Isabel groans and turns over to glare at me. I quickly move my hand away from where I was shaking her awake and for safety move out of hitting distance.

"Max, please don't tell me you've come to wake me up at the ungodly hour of…" she pauses to look at the clock and her eyes widen even more as she reads the shiny red numbers. "5 am! Max, we don't have to be up for another hour! Our appointment isn't even until 8:00." She says exasperatedly before turning over.

"Isabel…"

"Is this because of that girl you met last night?" She interrupts me quickly. I nod my head but realize she can't hear me.

"Yes-."

"But Max, you don't even know who she is-."

"It's Michael's sister."

"Liz?" She asks fully alert now. She sits up to look at me. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah; I pointed her out to Michael last night and he told me." Feeling Isabel's stare I look down at the floor suddenly finding it very interesting although I quickly look back up at the sound of Isabel's laughter. "What's so funny?" I asked confused.

"Nothing," Isabel says through spurts of laughter. "I just realized why Maria glared at you last night. Liz must have told her some guy bumped into her and made her break her phone and Maria realized it was you." She continued laughing.

"Do you think Maria told her who I was?" I can't help myself wondering aloud. Isabel looks thoughtful for a minute and then scrunches her face up in confusion.

"I don't know." She answers getting up from her bed and heading towards the bathroom.

"What are you doing? I thought you wanted to go back to sleep."

"Well, I can't go back to sleep now that you've dropped that bomb. Of all the girls, Michael's sister?" She starts to laugh again as she pulls some clothes out of her closet and drawers and heads for the bathroom. "Besides, if Maria hasn't told her who you are then I have to see the look on her face when she sees you again, and…" She drawls out. "I wanna look my best when I laugh at you." She says closing the bathroom door.

"Are you sure you don't just want to look your best because you're going to see Alex again?" I ask loud enough so she can hear me. The bathroom door opens wide enough so she can poke her face through.

"Max, go do something productive and make breakfast or something." She tells me sarcastically. I laugh and turn around to head out the door when suddenly I'm pelted square in the back by something. I turn around quickly to glare at Isabel but she's already shut the door; and a second later I hear the sound of the shower running. I look down to inspect the offending object and see one of Isabel's slippers lying at my feet. I laugh again and head down to the kitchen to do as I'm told.

Serena POV

We pull into the parking lot of the school five minutes late, but since Liz no longer feels the need to maim me, I consider it an accomplishment.

"Well, well, well. So glad you decided to grace us with your presence." Tess sneers as we walk onto the football field. I fight the strong urge to smack her; it's too early in the morning. I take another sip of my chocolate mint frap and count to ten. How on earth did anyone allow this gerbil onto the cheerleading squad? All she is, is a serious pain in my a-.

"Serena, as squad captain you should be setting a better example for everyone else." Tess smirks folding her arms in front of her chest. I want to slap that smirk of her face. Apparently Liz can tell also because she leans over to whisper in my ear. "Serena, you can't. They'll find her body."

"Not if I do a good enough job." I whisper back seriously almost lunging to rip out Tess' blonde trademark curls. Tess is still oblivious though because she continues on. If she were smart she'd keep her mouth shut; if she were smart…

"You know Serena, if the pressure of being captain is simply too much for you, I'd be more than happy to take over." Tess says feigning sweetness. I say feigning sweetness because this girl wouldn't know sweetness if it bit her. I turn to whisper back to Liz.

"When she takes over the cheerleading squad it'll be a cold day in h-."

"Serena!" Liz interrupts me whispering loudly. Oh come on. I know Liz wants to hit her as much as I do if not more. Tess clears her throat loudly to get our attention and when she has she gives us a rude distasteful glare.

"Are you finished?" She asks gaining a few snickers from the few bimbos who follow her.

"No we're not-." I begin but I'm immediately cut off by Liz.

"Yeah, you know what; we're wasting time so let's just start practice." Liz says heading over to where the rest of the squad is gathered in the middle of the field talking. I give Tess one last dirty look and follow my cousin. It is definitely too early to deal with Tess.

Liz POV

"Okay girls, we're going to learn a new cheer for the pep rally today." Serena announces after finally calming down, thanks to a few more sips of her chocolate mint frap. Although for a while there I totally thought we would have a murder on our hands. Not that anyone would miss her… I notice Serena start to teach the cheer and tune back in. "Okay girls it goes like this:

Uh huh we're RHS, everybody clap your hands with us,

A few times we've beat their team, If they beat us now it'd be obscene

Cause we ain't got average players, cause we ain't got average players

Let me here you say our team is bananas

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

(Our team is bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S)

Again our team is bananas

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

(Our team is bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S)

"Does everyone have it? It's basically to the tune 'Hollaback Girl'." At everyone's nod she begins to teach them all the routine that goes with the cheer. Luckily since I live with her she's already taught it to me. I start to join in with everybody else and soon everyone has got it down. I mean, it's not that difficult. There are a few lifts and barrel tucks but nothing we can't handle. About a half hour later and a few times through the routine Serena declares us ready and before I know it we're on our way home to get ready for school.

"Who the heck does that girl think she is!" Serena asks angrily breaking the silence that had fallen over us on the ride home. "To even suggest that I'm not able to handle being captain. Oh! Sometimes she just makes me wanna scream!" She yells loudly gripping the steering wheel tightly. Yeah and she just makes you want to rip her hair out.

"Oh, I know what you mean. I had to force myself not to." Serena continues. What? Crap! I'm starting to think out loud again. At Serena's laughter I turn back to face her.

"What? Did I just say that out loud again?" I ask worried.

"Yes!" She says laughing harder than before. Crap. I wonder if this is a legitimate medical condition. Maybe they have medication for this. This is again followed by more of Serena's laughter.

"Okay, that's it. I'm shutting up now." I say turning to face the window.

"Oh come on Liz; don't do that, you're my entertainment. I mean who else can say they have a crazy cousin? OH, real mature Liz." She says sarcastically as I stick my tongue out at her. What? It was the only thing I could think of at the moment. Serena pulls into the parking lot in front of the Crashdown and we head inside to get ready for school stealing a donut on our way up. Hey, the perks of your parents owning the establishment. We quickly headed up the stairs to the apartment above the Crashdown and to the room we share, talking all the way; Serena complaining about Tess and me agreeing whole heartedly.

Max POV

"Max, what's all this?" My mom asks surprised walking out into the kitchen where I'm currently finishing making breakfast.

"Oh, it's nothing Mom, just a little breakfast, you know, start the day off right." I say turning my attention back to grilling the sausages.

"Well, it looks wonderful Max. I'm so glad you kids are taking this so well. Did you have fun last night?" She asks moving to set the table.

"Yeah we had a lot of fun last night." Isabel says walking into the kitchen dressed and ready to go. "We had so much fun with Michael and his friends. They're really nice. And Max even met a girl." She says nudging me with her elbow. I catch on to what Iz has just said and feel the blood rush to my cheeks.

"Really," My mom asks interested. "So what's her name?"

"So, Mom, what time is dad getting here today?" It's a lame attempt at a subject change and they both know it since my dad called last night and told us.

"It's Liz." Isabel says ignoring the glare I send her. I know this is my punishment for waking her up earlier. "She's Michael's sister." Isabel adds much to my embarrassment.

"Really, is she pretty?" My mom asks Isabel, getting really interested.

"I'm going to go get ready." I say not being able to take it anymore and heading towards my room for some clothes then the shower. It's going to be a long ride to school.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey Guys! I'm back with another chapter! I'm really glad you guys are liking my story and I am especially grateful to all the feedbackers!

kt: Yeah, Serena is a little harsh but you gotta admit she makes things interesting... ; )

cesca: Thanks for all the awesome feedback, it makes my day. : )

chrmd1: Yeah, it was kind of wierd for him to find out she was Michael's sister especially since he thought she looked familiar for some reason (ie Michael and Liz are twins and kind of look alike).

Speaking of which...if anyone can figure out what tv show I borrowed some of the dialogue between Max and Liz in chapter 4c...specifically:

M: You know, you look familiar. Have we met before?

L: Well if that's you usual opening line I suggest you work on it.

M: Are you sure? What did you say your name was?

L: I didn't.

Anyways, if anyone can guess they get extra brownie points or special cool points or something to that extent. : ) Now, on to chapter 5b.

Chapter 5b

Liz POV

_Ever get the feeling that your friends know something you don't? It's really frustrating and you really want to know what it is. So you beg and beg for them to tell you…then you find out and you wished you never asked…_

Liz POV

"Serena, have you seen that shirt that I bought the other day? You know the burgundy one that ties in the back?" I ask tossing clothes left and right out of the closet looking for the lost piece of clothing. That is so weird. It was hanging in the closet only two days ago! When I don't get any answer I turn to face my cousin. "Serena?" I say a little louder.

"Um… I know what shirt you're talking about but I don't know where it is, sorry." She answers quickly never looking up from tying her shoes. Darn it! I really wanted to wear that shirt today when I saw Jay again. Turning back towards my side of the room I turn over a clothes hamper thinking maybe I might have dropped it in there absent mindedly.

"CRAP!" I yell loudly sitting heavily down on my bed. I cringe as I notice the mess my search has caused. Where could it be? "Are you sure you haven't seen it anywhere?" I ask desperately.

"Nope; I haven't a clue, sorry." Serena answers quickly once again; a little too quickly. I stare at her suspiciously hoping if I look long enough I'll find the answer I'm looking for. She doesn't meet my gaze and after a few minutes she starts to fidget. She knows something. I narrow my eyes on her-.

"Liz! Serena! Hurry the heck up!" Michael yells from downstairs interrupting my thought. "If you're not down here in ten minutes I'm leaving without you!"

"Keep your pants on! We'll be down in a few!" I shout back angrily. Now, where was I… I turn my gaze back to Serena. "Okay Serena." I begin. "Here's what I think. I think you know where my shirt is…and you're going to tell me. We're not going anywhere until I get that shirt." I say pacing back and forth in front of my cousin. Serena swallows harshly and I know my interrogation tactics are working.

"I…I have no idea what you're talking about Liz." Serena answers; resting her eyes everywhere but on me. That's it. Squirm.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about Serena. I'm never going to let you get a decent night's sleep until you tell me where it is." I threaten slowly never moving my gaze off of her. I wait for some sort of answer and I'm a little taken aback when I notice the smile slowly climb its way onto Serena's face like she's just remembered something good. I'm not sure when the tables turned but suddenly I'm afraid of what her smile means.

"Okay Liz…" She drawls out, the smile on her face growing with every word she says, "Say I do know where your shirt is…I want you to answer a question for me first." I stare silently at her waiting for her to ask her question. Time's running out. And on cue Michael yells up reminding us that we only have five minutes left before he leaves us.

"Serena, stop playing games and tell me where my shirt is so we can go." I tell her impatiently.

"You have to answer my question first." She says laughing.

"Fine!" I huff. "What's your question!"

"How'd you sleep last night Liz?" I'm taken aback by the random question and it shows because she's soon breaking into a fit of giggles. Okay…

"Serena, whatever you're on-."

"How'd you sleep last night Liz?" She cuts me off repeating the question. "Did you have any dreams?" She asks a knowing smirk on her face. Dreams, she couldn't know, could she? Looking back at her face I know she does. Before I can muster up an answer, she continues. "Liz, is there more to that story you told us about that guy who made you break your cell phone?" I feel the blood rush to my face and suddenly the carpet's the most interesting thing in the room. In an effort to change the subject, I remind her of the topic at hand.

"Serena, what does this have to do with my shirt?"

"Liz, I have a deal for you. I'll give you your shirt but you have to promise not to hurt, maim or kill me in any way." Why? What'd she do to my shirt!

"I can't make any guarantees. That was my new shirt. What'd you do to it?" I ask almost afraid of the answer.

"Uh uh Liz," she says wagging a finger in front of my face. "That's not how this works. You have to promise me."

"Or what?" I ask challenging her.

"Or I tell Maria about your dream-."

"Maria won't believe you. You don't have any proof!" I say even though it's a total lie. Maria would believe her in a heartbeat. But she doesn't need to know that. I wait for the smile to turn into a frown but am sorely disappointed and even a little more worried when her smile only gets bigger. "You d…don't h…have any p…proof. Do you?" I stutter out worried of her answer. Serena's silent and doesn't give anything away as she gets up off the bed and walks towards the dresser we share and grabs her purse off the top of it. If she does, and she shows it to Maria, I'll never hear the end of it. It's then I notice something burgundy peeking out from between the mattresses. While Serena's back is turned I head over to the bed and snatch the fabric out from its prison. Oh heck no! "Serena! What the heck did you do to my shirt!" I scream looking down at the now heavily stained shirt. Her silence only makes me angrier. That was an expensive shirt! "Serena! I asked you; what did you do to my-."

'Yeah, sure Jay…I'll dance with you…mmm haha…yeah.' My face pales as the sound of my voice fills the now deathly quiet room. Turning fully to face my cousin I notice her cell phone in hand and the sound of my voice coming from it. Crap. She did have proof. I give her a withering look and she knows she's won. I move angrily back towards my closet, grab another shirt and throw it quickly on just as Michael opens the door to announce he's leaving. Glaring angrily at my cousin I grab my backpack and storm out after Michael; Serena following close behind me. It's not over and she knows it, but for now she's safe. At least until I can get to her cell phone and erase whatever evidence she has of that dream.

Max POV

"Can we please talk about something else?" I beg from the passengers seat of my mom's car which had been dropped of an hour ago by of the movers.

"No Max, come on. Tell me about Liz. When did you two meet?" My mom asks giving me no mercy as she digs for information about Liz. When I don't answer Isabel does for me.

"He met Liz last night Mom." Isabel says a smile on her face. "He walked out of the crowd to meet up with us again and he looked like he was walking on cloud nine." My mom smiles at me brightly then turns to look back at the road. Isabel throws me a grin and when I roll my eyes, continues to tell our mother all about my meeting with Liz. "…and then he's like 'I don't know, I kinda pissed her off'." Isabel says making her voice deeper to sound like mine.

"And then what happened?" My mom asked excitedly.

"Nothing happened." I say desperately trying to stop the conversation now before Isabel could embarrass me anymore. Isabel rolls her eyes at my lame attempt and continues on.

"Well, apparently he-."

"Oh look, we're here." I interrupt Isabel as we pull up to the front of the school jumping out. Thank you. I watch as Isabel and then my mother jump out of the car and follow close behind me as I look around for the office. I start to worry that Isabel's going to continue the story of how I met Liz when suddenly my salvation shows up dressed in khakis and a green sweater.

"Alex!" I yell loud enough so Isabel can hear. My voice has the exact effect I had hoped it would when Isabel looks up excitedly to see Alex's lanky figure walking towards us.

"Hey! Max and Isabel, right? Welcome to Roswell High." He says smiling brightly at Isabel. Isabel blushes and manages to mumble small thanks. Though neither of these things go unnoticed by my mother who gives me a knowing look. My mother clears her throat breaking the spell on Isabel.

"Oh Mom, this is Alex. He's a friend of Michael's we met last night. Alex, this is my mom." Isabel says putting extra emphasis on Alex's name.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Evans." Alex says amiably moving to shake our mother's hand.

"It's nice to meet you too Alex. Do you think you could show us to the office?" My mother asks knowing that without his help we probably would never find it.

"It would be my pleasure." He answers, then, turning to face Isabel he held his arm out for her to take. "My lady." Isabel's face turned an even deeper shade of pink as she grabbed onto his arm and let him lead us to the office. Falling into step with my mother I was finally able to exact my revenge on Isabel.

"So Mom…want to know how Iz met Alex?"

Serena POV

Michael immediately noticed the tension between Liz and me as soon as we got in the car. Not that it was hard to notice that Liz sat as far as she could away from me and continued to glare at me every opportunity she had. But no matter how angry Liz was at me it could do nothing to stop the temporary truce that was silently struck up between us as we walked onto campus to see Alex standing with a pretty blonde…that neither of us knew.

"Who is that girl walking with Alex?" Liz asked incredulously which I could understand because here was Alex, who's supposed to be our best friend, looking extremely cozy with a girl we've never met before; and he's never introduced us to her!

"I have no idea!" I tell her equally shocked that he hasn't even introduced us.

"Hey guys. What are we looking at?" Maria says showing up behind us and peeking over our shoulders.

"Holy Crap Maria! Get a frickin' bell or something, you scared the bejeezus out of me!" I shouted loudly at the blonde clutching at my racing heart. Surprise registered on Maria's face at the outburst but it quickly turned to a smile as she looked past us to see what we had been looking at.

"Hey, there's Alex and Isabel! Don't they look cute together?" She asked excitedly looking back to us. What. The. Heck. He told Maria about this 'Isabel' but he didn't tell us? Liz must have been thinking the same thing because the first question out of her mouth was 'who the heck is Isabel'.

"Oh, well, we met Isabel last night." Maria says as though it explains everything. We looked at her waiting for her to go on but when she didn't I took matters into my own hands.

"Maria, who's 'we' and who exactly, is Isabel?" I ask bordering on frustration. She's not telling us anything.

"Oh, Isabel is one of the new students you're supposed to show around today Liz. Kyle, Michael, Alex and I met them last night. Well, her and her brother Max."

"Looks like Isabel already found someone to show her around." I tell them pointing to where Alex and Isabel are walking off arm in arm. I do have to admit they do make a cute couple.

"What about her brother, Max?" Liz asks trying not to appear curious but failing miserably. Hey, I'd be curious too. If Max were anywhere as good looking as Isabel then heaven help the female population of West Roswell High.

"Well, actually Liz, there is something I should tell you about Max-."

"Oh, don't tell me he's gay." I say hoping that's not the case.

"Well, no, at least I don't think so." She says scrunching up her face in confusion. "No, Max is-." But before Maria could finish her sentence the bell rings and Liz is rushing off towards the office. "Liz, wait! I have to tell you something important about Max-."

"Tell me at lunch! I gotta go or I'll be late! See you later." Liz yelled over her shoulder as she rushed in the direction of the office. We watched as she disappeared out of sight and once she was gone I couldn't stop myself from asking.

"So…what's so important about Max? And is he cute?"

Max POV

"Well Max, Isabel, it's my pleasure to welcome you both to West Roswell High and I hope you enjoy it here." Principal Porter tells us standing up and shaking our hands. "Now, do you guys have any questions that I can answer?" Looking silently to Isabel who's sitting next to Alex and shakes her head no we both sit waiting for Liz to show up to show us around.

"Uh…actually Mr. Porter," Alex speaks up. "If it's alright with you sir could I show Isabel here," he says gesturing to Isabel, around? I have a free period right now and really it'd be no trouble at all." Alex says hopefully.

"Sure Mr. Whitman. Is this alright with you Ms. Evans?" Mr. Porter asks turning to address Isabel.

"Yes, Mr. Porter. I'd actually like that very much." Isabel answered causing Alex to smile goofily and head out the door with Isabel on his arm.

"Good luck with Liz." Isabel says on her way out the door winking at me knowingly.

It's not too long after Isabel leaves when the door bursts open and in rushes Liz looking beautiful as ever. She stops in front of the principal's desk to catch her breath and I can tell she hasn't noticed me yet.

"I'm…so…s…sorry I'm…late." Liz wheezes out of breath apologizing.

"Oh, it's quite alright Ms. Parker. Actually we were just finishing up here. Ms. Parker, I'd like you to meet Max Evans and this is his mother Mrs. Evans. Liz's eyes fell on my mother first.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Evans." She says holding out her hand to shake my mom's.

"Please, call me Diane. I've heard so much about you from my daughter Isabel. I believe she met your brother last night and we met your father yesterday as well."

"Well, I hope it was all good." Liz answered smiling shyly. I can't seem to take my eyes off of her. She's so beautiful. My mom looks Liz over and looks to me and smiles. It's then that Liz turns to look at me for the first time since she came in the room. The next minute happened in slow motion. From the smile dropping from Liz's face as recognition set in, to the anger hidden behind the fake smile she plastered on after, to the words that came out of her mouth next. Turning back to face my mother and the principal she continued speaking. "It was a pleasure meeting you Mrs.-Diane." She corrected herself at my mother's look sheepishly. "Now if you'll excuse us, I'll start showing Max around." Smiling once more she turned on her heel facing me, grabbed my arm and pulled me out the door giving me just enough time to say goodbye to my mom before dragging me out of sight. As soon as the door closes behind us she whirls on me and starts poking her finger harshly at my chest.

"What are you doing here? Are you like stalking me now!" She asks yelling at me. Yep, she definitely remembered me. I felt myself getting angry that she was accusing me of stalking her that before I knew it I was yelling back.

"Don't flatter yourself. We moved here. This is the school we go to now." I tell her flatly. Is that disappointment I see in her eyes? Is she disappointed I'm not stalking her? Don't be stupid Max. Why would she be sad you weren't stalking her? But soon the sad look is gone to be replaced with a look of anger.

"Don't flatter myself!" She asks incredulously. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but didn't you ask me out last night!" She yells accenting each word with a poke to my chest. Oww. "Plus," she adds. "You broke my cell phone!"

"Look, I said I was sorry. Besides, it's not like I'm the one who stepped on it!" I yell back indignantly.

"So! You made me drop it!" She says throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.

"What kind of crazy logic is that!"

"The kind of logic where you buy me a new one!"

"A new what; personality?"

"No! A new phone, Dip wad!"

"Dip wad! I-." But I don't get to finish my sentence because suddenly the door to the principal's office opens and out walks my mom. She takes in the sight in front of her and smiles at the picture we make. Liz stands close enough to me that if she exhaled I'm pretty sure I could feel her breath. Not that I'm complaining, but Liz is a different story. As soon as she sees my mother she takes three huge steps away from me and puts on a blank face.

"Max, Liz, what are you two still doing here?" She asks calmly. As if she couldn't hear us yelling through the office door. She walks over and pulls me into a hug. "I'm going to leave now honey but I'll see you at home okay?" She waits until I respond with an 'okay' before she lowers her voice and pulls me closer so only I can here her. "Don't worry, your father and I used to fight like this all the time." She gives me another squeeze before letting go. She smiles one more time and turns to leave. "It was nice meeting you Liz." She says as she walks out of the school.

"You too." She calls out after her. Although as soon as my mom's out of sight, Liz starts to leave walking swiftly down the hallway.

"Where are you going?" I shout running to catch up with her. Man she's fast.

"Away from you." She shouts over her shoulder.

"Wait." I say catching hold of her arm and turning her to face me.

"What?" She asks tapping her foot impatiently.

"Aren't you supposed to show me around first?" I remind her. She rolls her eyes and turns to keep walking. "Look, just show me around the school first and then I'll be out of your way, okay?"

"Fine." She sighs out heavily and continues walking down the hall.

"Fine." This should be interesting.

"So, your mom's nice. I guess that rules you out as the spawn of Satan…Unless you're adopted…" She says leaving the question hanging as I fall into step beside her.


	12. Chapter 12

Hello everybody! How's your guys' wonderful Thanksgiving week going? Mine is going considerably well considering I had to take an 8 hour train/bus ride to my sister's house for Thanksgiving week...but anyways, I have another part for you guys. : )

Special Thanks to all the feedbackers:

cesca: Thanks! You just made my day. I'm so stoked you think my story is great!

Trude: Yes, I love the sibling banter too. I think all siblings should banter, I know me and my brother do a lot.

kt: Thank you for all your wonderful feedback! I love hearing from the readers!

Antarian Chick: Thanks for the feedback! I'm happy you think my story is funny : ) (does happy dance)

Well, here's the next chapter guys...I hope you like it.

Chapter 6: Can't Anyone Keep Secrets Anymore?

Liz POV

_You know you tell someone something in confidence, you expect them to keep it a secret right? Well…tell them in confidence; they hear you talk in your sleep…same thing right? Maybe someone should tell that to my cousin…_

Liz POV

"…and that over there is the cafeteria, but I'd stray away from the mystery meat on Thursdays. They're not kidding when they call it 'mystery meat'. I don't think anyone knows exactly what's in it…" I tell him off-handedly pointing in the vague direction of large building and trying my hardest not to look at him.

_Hmmm… and why are you trying not to look at him Liz? It isn't because he's cute huh?_

What the heck? Who are you?

_I'm your conscience Liz. I'm you. Well, the honest you. You think Max is cute._

Great; not only do I think out loud at less than opportune times, talk in my sleep, but now I'm hearing voices. I sneak another glance at Max to make sure I actually haven't said anything out loud. I think I'm in the clear as Max's gaze is still on the building I've just pointed out. Good. Don't need another person thinking I'm crazy. Wait. When did I start caring what Max thought?

_See. I told you that you liked him._

No you didn't. You said I thought he was cute. I didn't say anything about liking him.

_Oh so you admit that he's cute then…_

What? I never said that. You're twisting my words around. If anything else he annoys me.

_Yeah, right._

Are you saying you don't believe me?

_Give the girl a prize. Yes that is exactly what I'm saying._

Hey, who asked you anyway? Geez I can't believe I'm arguing with myself. This is just…sad.

"Liz?" I turn my head to face Max who's looking at me questioningly. He continues to look at me as if he's waiting for an answer.

"What?" I ask rather rudely and as soon as I do I regret it. When did I become such a witch?

_About the same time Max Evans showed up. You know he's not going to like you very much if you keep being so mean to him…_

Well then it's a good thing that I don't care if he likes me.

"Nothing." Max replies quickly and turns away from me to gaze down the hall walking a little faster. Probably to get away from me; not that I blame him. Geez, I'm not usually like this.

_See. I think you do care what Max thinks._

Do not.

_Do too. _

Do not.

_Do too._

Oh yeah, well if you know so much then why I am I so mean to him? Huh? Answer that.

_Because you like this guy; you think he's cute but you've liked Jay for so long that it scares you to even think of liking someone else. _

Damn. That actually makes some sense. Not that I'm saying it's true or that I'm admitting to anything.

_You don't have to admit to anything. I'm you. I know._

Don't you have somewhere else to be or something? Can't you just leave me alone?

_Not till you admit it…_

Admit what?

_You know perfectly well what I'm talking about._

Fine! I admit it! The boy's hot! He's fine. He's got gorgeous eyes, totally kissable lips, and the view from behind ain't bad either! There! You happy now!

_Very; Just uh…one more thing before I go._

Oh yeah…and what's that?

_You just said that out loud. Bye._

W-what? I look in front of me to see that Max is indeed staring at me from his position in front of me with a smug smile on his face. Damn.

Maria POV

Oh man. Liz is going to kill me when she finds out who Max is and that I knew who he was and didn't tell her. Not that I didn't try…well, hard.

"So…what's so important about this Max and is he cute?" Serena asks curiously. Well, Liz is going to find out soon enough, I guess it won't hurt to tell Serena.

"You remember last night how Liz was saying that some jerk bumped into her and made her break her cell phone?"

"OH MY GOSH! Max is the hottie!" She yells out in a mixture of shock and…amusement? Wait a minute. Hottie?

"Serena, what are you talking about? Did Liz say he was a hottie?"

"Well is he?" She counters quickly.

"Well yeah-."

"I knew it! I knew there was more to the story than she was telling us!" She shouts triumphantly. "Oh this is great!"

"Serena, are you crazy? This isn't great! Do you remember how angry Liz was at him last night? She'll kill me when she finds out I knew who he was and didn't tell her before." I shout throwing my hands in the air.

"Oh calm down Maria. I have a feeling that Liz won't be quite as angry as you think." She says; a dangerous gleam shining in her eyes.

"What are you talking about and why did you refer to Max as 'the hottie'? What's going on! And don't tell me to calm down." Why is she so calm about this? I watch as a smirk settles on her face and rests there as she digs through her purse for something. A minute later she produces her cell phone. Okay…how does this answer my questions?

"Maria, I don't think my cousin has been exactly honest with us about all that went on last night with her and Maxie boy…"

"Meaning…" I ask still not getting where she's going with all this.

"Meaning…that when you see what I have to show you you'll understand a lot more." She says flipping the screen of phone to face me.

"Help me out here Serena, what am I looking at-."

_"…look hottie! Just cuz you're cute and asked me out does not mean I'm going to forget that you broke my cell phone."_

"Is that Liz!" I ask in disbelief staring at the tiny screen. No way. But still I'm proven wrong as the figure on screen turns over and I see Liz's face peek out from behind the blankets. Holy crap.

Liz POV

Okay, calm down Liz. Maybe he didn't hear you say that. Maybe he's just turning around to ask me a question about the school. He could be smirking for a completely different reason that has nothing to do with you right?

"So…exactly how good is the view from behind?" He asks taking a few steps closer. Hmmm…guess not.

"What makes you think I was talking about you?" I recover quickly trying to hide the blush of embarrassment rushing to my cheeks.

"Well if you weren't talking about me then who were you talking about?" He asks practically daring me to deny it.

"Well, if you must know, I was talking about Jay. You know the guy I was meeting last night." I tell him haughtily and move to walk past him. As I brush past him though he grabs a hold of my arm and turns me to face him.

"Really?" He questions arching an eyebrow at me.

"Yes really!" I shout yanking my arm from his grasp.

"And you just expect me to believe that you go around talking about how hot this Jay is even when he's not around." Well when he says it like that I sound crazy.

"Well, yeah." I tell him indignantly yet not daring to meet his eyes afraid he'll see I'm lying.

"Then why don't I believe you?" He says smugly.

"I don't know! Maybe you've got trust issues, or maybe your fragile male ego just doesn't want to believe that one girl's not attracted to you." He looks at me thoughtful for a moment then shakes his head.

"No, I don't think that's it."

"Yeah well, whatever you're thinking you're wrong."

"Am I?" He asks closing the space between us bringing his arms up to grab my shoulders. Liz! What the heck are you doing! You can't let him kiss you! You're with Jay now right? But although my mind protests all I can do is watch as his face gets closer and closer to mine. RIGHT? And soon the last thing I see are Max's beautiful amber eyes as my eyes flutter closed.


	13. Chapter 13

Hey Guys! Happy Turkey Day! Since it is the day of thanks, giving, and giving thanks I have a new part for you guys! I hope you like it. Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Special Thanks to the feedbackers...

kt: Thank you so much! You encouraged me to post this faster!

cesca: She may eventually forgive him for the cell phone incident. We'll just have to see... ; ) I had fun writing this chapter. I hope you like this one too. : )

Last time on 'Not Expecting To Fall Literally':

"Am I?" He asks closing the space between us bringing his arms up to grab my shoulders. Liz! What the heck are you doing! You can't let him kiss you! You're with Jay now right? But although my mind protests all I can do is watch as his face gets closer and closer to mine. RIGHT? And soon the last thing I see are Max's beautiful amber eyes as my eyes flutter closed.

Chapter 6b

Liz POV

Leaning my face forward I wait for his soft, full lips to meet mine. That's why when I feel his warm breath against my ear I struggle to hold in my gasp of surprise and slow the quickening of my heart.

"Liz." He whispers softly against my ear and I struggle to swallow through my suddenly dry throat to answer him.

"Y-yeah, Max?" I stutter as he brings his hand up to cup my face and brings me closer. Although he never answers as his warm lips meet mine softly, his eyelashes fluttering on my cheek as he leans in closer. Unconsciously I lift my arms to wrap them around his neck kissing him back. Slowly his lips pull away from mine and before I know it I feel his sweet breath against my ear again.

"I think I've proven my point; don't you?" He asks releasing his grip on my shoulders and pulling away. Wait…huh? His words break through the haze I'm in and suddenly I feel something heavy and sickening settle in the pit of my stomach. My eyes snap open in shock and anger; but more than anything embarrassment as my mind registers his words and my eyes take in his smug expression.

"You selfish, egotistical, pretentious, jerk!" The words rip out of my throat as I shove him harshly away from me. "How dare you!" My voice rings loudly through the empty hallway. It was all just to prove a point.

"Liz-."

"No. Where the hell do you get off Max? Huh?" I shout angrily at him.

"If you weren't talking about me before; and if you aren't attracted to me, then why are you so angry Liz?" Max asks staring at me expectantly. Oh I just want to hit him because the ironic part about this is that he has a point. Why am I so angry? "Well…?"

"You know, I'm pretty sure you can find your way around the school on your own. You're a big boy…" I spit out harshly as I turn on my heel fully intending to leave him there alone in the hallway. How could I ever be attracted to him? I must have been delusional or something. I like Jay, I'm with Jay now. Feeling reassured I make my way down the hall towards my next class.

"You can't ignore this Liz, you feel something; I know you do." He shouts after me. My body stiffens at his words and I turn around once more to glare at him.

"The only thing I feel for you right now is annoyance…and disgust."

Max POV

Well that went well. I watch as she disappears from sight behind a classroom door and I finally let myself release the breath I'd been holding since her last words. Smooth moves Max, that'll get the girl…corner her, and then insult her. Well, at least I know she likes me…or did like me before that little stunt I pulled. What was I thinking?

"Max?" Startled I look up to see Isabel's concerned eyes gazing back at me. One look around I also notice Alex standing a few feet away ready to give us privacy if asked. "Max, are you okay? Where's Liz?" She asks looking around expecting to see the other girl pop up at any moment.

"She…uh…left."

"Oh no. Max please. Tell me that you two didn't argue again." At my silence she rolls her eyes and sighs heavily. "What am I going to do with you?" She asks linking her arm through mine and pulling me to where Alex waits. "Alex, do you mind if Max comes with us?"

"Uh…uh sure, but what happened to Liz? I mean she was supposed to show you around wasn't she?" He asks confused stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"It's a long story…"

"Well…why don't you tell us while Alex shows us around?" Isabel says releasing her hold on my arm and moving to take Alex's once again proffered one. Brightening immediately Alex turns to regard me with a smile.

"Yeah Max, it can't be that long. You didn't piss her off again did you?" I must've looked surprised that he knew because he just laughed telling me that Isabel had told him all about Liz's and mine first encounter. "So did you?" He continues. "You know, piss her off again?" Nodding silently he laughs again and uses his free arm to pat me on the shoulder. "Don't worry Max, she'll get over it. I promise. If she can get over half the stuff Michael and Kyle pull all the time, she'll get over it."

"I don't know Alex, she seemed pretty angry." Heh. I have to laugh at my choice of words. Angry is an understatement. She was more along the lines of livid, irate, enraged…choose your SAT word.

"Well, what'd you do to this time? She can't still be angry about her phone, can she?" Isabel leans forward to look at me around Alex questioning curiously.

"I know she was planning to go get a new cell phone today after school so it can't be that…her mom even gave her money to buy a new one." Alex whispers more to himself than us concentrating hard on the floor.

"No, she wasn't really mad about the cell phone. Or at least that's not the reason she's mad at me this time…" My words pull Alex out of his trance and he looks at me inquisitively waiting for me to continue. When I don't right away he prods me on.

"Well, what'd you do?" Swallowing hard and averting my eyes to the now interesting wall behind them I answer.

"I kissed her."

Liz POV

"Stupid, smug, little-," I mutter heatedly under my breath.

"Stupid, smug, little who?" Serena asks smiling as I take my seat beside her for AP biology. Hold up. There's something off about her smile…almost as if she knows something- nah how could she? Come on Liz…you're just being paranoid.

"No one…just this guy that I had to show around the school."

"You mean that girl's brother? What was his name? Max?" She asks sliding the notes for today's lab over to me to copy down.

"Yeah."

"And…?"

"And what? I don't know what you want me to say." I tell her shortly pulling out my notebook to copy the procedure.

"I don't know, how about why you think he's a stupid, smug, little…whatever you were going to say."

"Just forget it, it's not important."

"Oh come on; just tell me…I wanna know. Please…" She asks putting on her best 'tell me yes or I'm going to walk around telling people you still cuddle with your stuffed pig Mr. Oinkers' face. If she thinks that's going to work on me then she's got another thing coming. She's not giving up. Crap. I have to tell her something…

"Fine; he was really rude and just full of himself." There. That's the truth. Sure it's not the whole truth…

"But you said he was smug, what was he smug about?"

"Look, it's not important. Just drop it!" I whisper loudly glancing in the direction of the teacher to make sure she hasn't heard us.

"Fine; fine but you're going to tell me one way or another…" She grumbles sullenly turning back to focus on the lab and the lesson our teacher is giving. Huh. Nice try Serena like I'm going to fall for your little guilt trip…besides it's not like there's anything really to tell. I'm with Jay now. Besides it wasn't even that good of a kiss anyways…

_Whatever you need to tell yourself…_

Oh great. Not you again.

_I thought we went over this. I'm you. Besides I didn't tell you to kiss Max._

Oh come on! You were practically cheering me on! Telling me I thought Max was cute and making me admit it.

_Well, didn't you!_

That doesn't matter! It's still all your fault!

_It is not! I'm your conscience. I was just making sure you were being honest._

Honest!

_Yes honest! And what were you thinking kissing Max when you are clearly going out with Jay? _Silence. _Hello? Am I talking to no one here? And while we're on the subject of being honest…you did like that kiss._

What are you talking about! I did not!

_Oh yeah?_

Yeah!

_Then why'd you kiss him back?_ Silence. _Yeah. That's what I thought…_

Max POV

"You…w-what!" Isabel asks gaping at me. Alex's mouth is just working up and down no sound coming out.

"I kissed her." I tell them again. Isabel recovers from her stupor first.

"I heard that part. The part I'm stuck on is what were you thinking! She's going out with someone Max."

"Let me guess, his name is Jay." I reply a little bitterly.

"Y-yeah. How did you know?" Alex asks finally getting over his shock at my admission.

"She may have mentioned him." Yeah right Max. She practically told you they were serious.

"She _may _have mentioned him! Max, are you listening to yourself? Why aren't you taking this more seriously?" Isabel asks incredulously moving to look me in the eyes.

"Because," I answer staring back into her eyes then moving to look at Alex, "she kissed me back."


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey Guys! How is it going? I have returned with a new part! So here you guys go. I hope you like it. ; ) I'd just once again like to thank the feedbackers. You ROCK!**

**cesca: Yeah, Max was a jerk, but don't worry Liz will get her revenge...(Maniacal laughter) Sorry, that just came out.  
**

**kt: Yeah, I already have it planned for Liz to start getting Kyle and Serena...and soon. Serena too will have her embarrassing moments. :)**

**BTW: If you have not seen RENT...What are you doing! Get out there and see it! It's really really good! Now on to the next chapter...  
**

**Chapter 7: Crazy, I Was Crazy Once…**

Liz POV

The bell rings signaling the end of AP Biology and I am just glad to get out from under Serena's piercing gaze. All period she gave me questioning and sometimes calculating looks trying to figure out in her mind all the possible situations that could've happened between Max and me. Grabbing my backpack I head to the door attempting to make a quick exit.

"Liz!" Oh, I was so close! "Liz, wait for me." Serena calls out picking up her bag and running to catch up. We walk in silence for a few moments and I wait for her to ask the question I know she wants to ask. I don't have to wait long though because a minute later… "So…Liz, you ready to tell me what really happened between you and Maxie boy that has your panties in such a twist?"

"Serena, I already told you there's nothing to tell; will you just quit it?"

"Okay, okay. I'll stop. If you say nothing else happened then…I believe you." Finally. "Only if you answer one more question…" Oh great what now? "Was he cute? And is he single?" She asks waggling her eyebrows up and down.

"Serena, that's two questions…" I tell her hoping to avoid answering the question. No such luck though.

"Okay, if you answer two more questions." She corrects rolling her eyes. She asks those questions as if they're the easiest to answer in the world but knowing my cousin, I know any answers I give her she'll add to her earlier ideas of what happened. I feel relief wash over me though when I hear the bell ring again. Saved by the bell…literally.

"Sorry Serena, I gotta go or I'm gonna be late." I shout over my shoulder as I run to my Pre-calculus class. Never have I been so excited to go to my Pre-cal class; and it's not just because Jay's in that class too. What! It's not!

Isabel POV

I can't stand it! Ever since Max told me and Alex that he kissed Liz, an extremely awkward silence has fallen over us. I mean it doesn't exactly help that Alex is one of Liz's best friends; and it's not like your normal awkward silence either. It's like 'when our mom finds a new recipe in Martha Stewart Living and we know it's going to taste horrible but we don't say anything because we don't want to hurt her feelings' kind of awkward. What was he thinking! Ugghhhh! If someone doesn't say something soon I'm going to go crazy!

"So…Max…um, what classes do you have?" Thank goodness for Alex. I give his arm a quick squeeze silently thanking him for trying to break the silence. He responds by covering my hand with his never taking his eyes off of Max who is checking his pockets for his schedule. It's so weird, Alex and I just met last night and already I feel so comfortable with him. And he's not even-.

"Here it is." Max says unfolding a piece of paper and successfully pulling me from my thoughts. "It says I have first period woodshop with Mr. Martinez…"

"Oh you're in the same class as Michael and Maria." This catches my attention.

"Maria takes woodshop?" I ask making sure I heard right. From what little I know of Maria from meeting her last night I wouldn't have guessed that she took woodshop.

"Yeah." Alex answers; a broad smile covering his face. "Michael and Kyle made the mistake of telling her there was no way she could pass that class. Needless to say she joined just to prove them wrong."

"And how did that turn out?"

"Not well, really. Her napkin holder looked more like a shoe tree." He tells us laughing. "Serena and I have suspicions though that she really joined the class to meet guys. Over half the football team is in that class." If only they knew that Michael and Maria are dating…Wait.

"Serena? Is she your girlfriend?" I inquire trying to keep the jealousy out of voice while at the same time trying to remove my hand out from under his. Why am I jealous? Of course he has a girlfriend. He bell rings and hundreds of students file out of doors around us. I try once again to get my hand away from his. What if someone sees us like this and tells his girlfriend? That'd be a really good way to start school here wouldn't it? I feel Alex's hand tighten on my own but with a final yank I feel my hand slip out of is grasp. He turns to look at me in confusion; his confusion quickly turns to understanding and suddenly the sound of laughter rings through the hall. Several students turn to llok at us, but soon lose interest and head to their next classes.

"SERENA, MY GIRLFRIEND?" And suddenly I feel like such a fool, the way he says it speaking of how incredulous the idea of it really is. "No, Serena is one of my best friends. I've known her since we were in elementary school. She's more like a sister actually than anything. I think you guys will really hit it off." Smiling at me he makes a grab for my hand and I allow him to take hold of it again placing it once more around his arm. "Shall we continue the tour milady?" Blushing shyly I look up into his clear blue eyes and nod.

"We shall." But the sound of someone clearing their throat quickly distracts us from our comfortable silence and I remember that we're not alone. Alex doesn't miss a beat though and I envy him for recovering so quickly.

"Anyways, I think you'll really like that class though Max; Mr. Martinez is really cool. Who else do you have?"

"I have Carter for English, Thompson for psychology-."

"Hey! You have psychology with me, Serena, Maria, and…and Liz." Hello awkward silence. Welcome back.

Liz POV

Walking into the classroom I look around anxiously for Jay and soon find him…sitting next to a girl, talking and laughing. Come on Liz, it's probably not what you think. He told you last night that he wanted to go out with you again. Or at least that's what I was telling myself before I see said girl break out into laughter and playfully hit him on the shoulder. Before I can stop myself I walk stiffly over to where their sitting.

"Hey Jay."

_Hey Jay? Is that the best you can do?_

You again? Leave me alone, I'm busy.

_Busy what? Embarrassing yourself? It's obvious he's busy too. You know, talking to another girl? _

Shut up.

_Okay, but just remember, I told you._

"Oh…hey, Liz." Jay says not even turning around to look at me. What? Did he just totally ignore me? "So, Christina-"

"Jay, can I talk to you for a minute?" I interrupt quickly as I notice him moving to touch 'Christina's' hand. What's going on?

"Sure." His hand stops it's progression but he makes no move and still won't look at me when he answers.

_"Alone." _I choke out the word and bite back the tears I feel stinging the back of my eyes. Finally glancing in my direction he stands up and moves to follow me, but not before turning to tell Christina he'd be back. Already our little scene has gotten the full attention of the class and so hoping for a little semblance of privacy I lead him to a deserted corner of the classroom.

"What's going on Jay? Last night you said that you-I mean…I…I…I thought you liked me." I finally stutter out. Jeez, he must think I'm such a moron.

"Yeah, I did. I guess I made the mistake of thinking you liked me back when obviously that wasn't true." He turns to leave and I reach out and grab his arm to stop him from leaving.

"Wait, what are you talking about? I've wanted last night to happen for as long as I can remember." I bite out angrily. Realizing what I've just admitted I feel my cheeks redden. Recovering, I continue. "Besides, you're the one getting all friendly with Christina over there." I gesture in her direction. At least the girl has the decency to look embarrassed and a little guilty.

"Well, isn't this interesting?" He continues. "You know, I don't see why you're so angry Liz. You know I thought I knew you. I never took you for a liar or a hypocrite, but I was wrong. I guess I never really knew you."

"What are you talking about!" I whisper hurt. Then an idea comes to my mind. Tess. "Did your sister tell you something about me? Because whatever it was it wasn't true! Your sister hates me-" He interrupts me with bitter laughter.

"Liz, Tess tells me a lot of things about you. A lot of them bad, but I never believed her. I believed in you and what I thought I knew about you, but maybe I should've listened to her." I move my mouth to say something, but he continues. "It wasn't something Tess said, Liz."

"Then what happened? Why are you acting like this? I do care about you!"

"Well maybe I'd be more inclined to believe you if I hadn't of seen you kissing that guy out in the hallway. Were you thinking about how much you cared about me when you were kissing him?"

I'm so taken off guard by his statement that all I can stutter out is, "Y-you saw that?" Too late I realize how guilty that makes me sound, but before I can defend myself he answers my question.

"Yes I saw it." He stiffly replies. Then for the first time during our conversation I see his face soften into a sad smile. "I guess you're not who I thought you were." Ms. Hardy conveniently picks this time to storm through the door making excuses about being a few minutes late. Jay turns around and heads to a desk on the other side of the classroom. In some sickeningly pathetic way I'm just glad he can't continue 'talking' to Christina; and with that little consolation I head for a seat near the back. He doesn't look at me for the entire period and as soon as the bell rings for lunch he's out the door.

Lunch Liz's POV

"Liz? Liz, what are you doing hiding in the bushes?" Kyle asks taking a bite out of his sandwich and staring at me where I sit perched behind the shrubs in the quad.

"I uh…. I dropped my uh…ring." I whisper lamely fumbling around in the dirt for a ring that isn't there.

"Liz, why are you whispering?"

"Shhhhhh!" I whisper harshly yanking him down by his shirt into the bushes next to me. "Fine! Fine. I'm spying on Max." I admit immediately looking back to where Max is seated with Alex, Isabel, Michael, and Maria.

"What! Why are you spying on Max?"

"That's not important. Do you have any binoculars on you?" I question grabbing his backpack and rifling through it.

"Do I have any…Liz you're crazy!" He shouts yanking his backpack from my grasp. "Besides they're like thirty feet away!"

"Shhhhh! Do you want to get us caught!"

"Get us caught! You're the one spying on Max…which why are you doing this again?"

"I'm plotting his downfall." I say letting the evil grin slip onto my face. He's going to pay for what he did. Okay I know this is totally irrational, but it's his fault that Jay won't talk to me, let alone look at me. I think I've earned the right to be a little irrational. Either way, Max is going down. Mwa ha ha ha ha.

"Uh Liz? Are you okay? You're kind of starting to scare me." Kyle says scooting away from me.

"You're going down Max." I continue, ignoring Kyle's remark, and turn once more to look at my prey; though I don't get the chance because my vision is blocked by a mass of sickeningly blonde curls.

"Well, well, well; what have we here?"

"Go away Tess." I grind out angrily glaring at her. If anything her smile only gets wider as her lackeys snicker from their place behind her.

"My, my; so touchy Liz. You know, I always knew you weren't good enough for my brother, but he wouldn't listen to me. Thank goodness he finally sees you for the skank you really are." She sneers. Man I want to claw her face off right now. She has no idea what she's talking about.

"Hmmm…Tess, that's so weird!" Kyle exclaims looking totally confused.

"What is?"

"Well, you're calling Liz a skank, but she's nothing like you!" Kyle continues still pretending to be genuinely confused. Tess glares at him and then continues her little 'I hate Liz' tirade.

"No wonder my brother dumped you Liz, here you are the day after your first date and already you have your tongue down some other guy's throat and now here you are hiding in the bushes with another guy…" She trails off looking like a cat that just caught a mouse. Turning her attention to Kyle she continues, "You know Kyle, if I were you I'd stay away from her. She might try and jump you too."

"Hmmm…" Kyle says pretending to think something over. "Yeah, still a lot better than being jumped by an evil, blonde, conniving, skank. Uh and in case you didn't know…that's you." He says smiling, proud of his insult.

"Whatever." She grates out angrily in her annoying voice. Then she turns her attention back to me. "Look, just stay away from my brother." She says in what she thinks, I guess, is supposed to a serious voice, but just as she says this one of her lackeys bumps into her from behind spilling diet coke all over her. She runs off screaming and I don't think Kyle and I have laughed so hard in our lives and for the first time this morning I start to feel better.

5 Minutes Later

"Liz? Kyle? What the heck are you two doing laughing in the bushes?" When neither of us can stop laughing long enough to answer her she continues. "Oh my gosh. Are you guys getting high?" This only causes Kyle and me to laugh harder. "Seriously are you?"

"No Serena, we're not getting high." I answer through giggles.

"Then what are you two doing in the bushes?" She asks confused. "You guys aren't back together are you!" She asks, a gasp ripping from her throat. Kyle immediately sobers at her comment.

"No! I mean uh…no, Liz and I are not getting back together." He assures her scooting a little further away from me to emphasize his point.

"Oh. Well, then what are you two doing?"

"Uh, spying on Max-." "Looking for my ring!" Kyle and I answer at the same time. Serena raises an eyebrow and stares at us expectantly.

"I mean, spying on Max!" "Looking for Liz's ring!"

"So which is it? Are you spying on Max or are you looking for Liz's ring?" Once again, when neither of us answers her question she continues. "So, why are you guys spying on Max?" She asks interested crouching down next to us in the bushes.

"Liz is plotting his downfall." Kyle answers automatically.

"Kyle!" I yelp out smacking him on the arm. I can't believe he told her!

"That seems kind of drastic to me considering you only told me he was rude and full of himself Liz. Why would you be plotting his downfall? Did something else happen?" Serena questions me turning her head to look at me. I quickly try to avoid her gaze and turn to look at Kyle. Suddenly a look of realization comes over Kyle's face and he turns to me in shock. I don't like where this is going…

"HOLY CRAP! That guy! That guy that Tess said you kissed this morning! That was Max wasn't it! You kissed Max and Jay broke up with you because he found out!" He shouts out in disbelief.

"YOU KISSED MAX!" Serena shouts incredulously looking back and forth between me and the table we'd been staring at.

"What's this world coming to? First Barbie and Ken and now you and Jay! It's just not fair!" Although Serena ignores Kyle's words as she continues to stare at me.

"You _kissed_ Max!"

"Why God? Why?" Kyle yells out dramatically sobbing into his hands.

"You _KISSED _Max!

"Jeez Serena, calm down. Besides I didn't kiss Max."

"But then who-"

"He kissed me."


	15. Chapter 15

Hello everybody! How's it going? I am happy to report I am back with a new part for my story! Here it is. Hope you guys enjoy it! See ya everyone! Gotta hot date on Friday so I'll post the next chapter probably next week.

cesca: Oh I think you will like the revenge she has in mind...It'll be in the next chapter.(Chapter 9) : )

Trude: Thanks for your feedback. You're a peach!

kt: Yes, evil plans are very fun...Mwa ha ha ha ha! (Sorry, don't know where that came from.)

**  
Chapter 8: Prelude To A Plot**

Liz POV

"Pfffft. Tell me _my_ plan isn't rational." I scoff crossing my arms over my chest defiantly still crouched in the bushes.

"Well Liz, it isn't."

"What are you talking about? My plan was perfectly rational!" I whisper harshly turning back to glare at my cousin.

"Liz, waiting in the bushes until Max passes by and then jumping out and beating him up isn't rational." She tells me slowly patting my shoulder like a little kid.

"Oh and you think talking it out with him is rational?" I counter narrowing my eyes at her.

"Uh…Liz?" Kyle interjects.

"Cuz that is _not_ an option!" I shout louder than I actually meant to managing to attract the attention of several people. One look at the table where my new arch-nemesis sits though reassures me that they haven't heard me as I see them break into laughter. "Need I remind you guys that I am now single because of him and Jay now wants nothing to do with me?" I say lowering my voice. At their silence I continue. "Besides, that's not what I was going to do."

"Really?" Serena asks raising her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Yes; really. Give me a _little_ credit. I'll have you know I was going to wait until Max walked by, _Kyle and I _would've jumped out, _Kyle _would've held him back, and _then_ I would've beaten him up." I smile satisfied with my plan. Although at my inclusion of Kyle in my plans Serena turns her glare on Kyle.

"You were apart of this crazy plan!"

"W-what? Uh…I mean uh…" Kyle sputters out waving his arms out in front of him as if that would save him from either of our wraths if he didn't answer correctly.

"You were going to help me, right Kyle. I mean you are on my side aren't you?" I ask turning to face him as well.

"Well you see…the thing is…I…" Kyle looks back and forth between the two of us like a caged animal and tries to back up even further into the bushes.

"WELL?" Serena and I both question him at the same time.

"Uh…oh look at the time! It's almost time for the pep rally. Gotta go!" He shouts pushing between us and breaking off into a run. Chicken.

"Oh crap! It really is almost time for the pep rally!" Serena shrieks grabbing my arm and yanking me out of the bushes towards the auditorium.

"OWWW! Serena slow down, I might need that arm someday!"

"Yeah well, we'll worry about someday when it comes. Now get a move on!"

"Serena, really, slow down or we're gonna-" bam!

"Owww!" I shout for the second time in the last two minutes and for the second time in the last twenty-four hours I find myself looking into a pair of amber eyes.

"Just couldn't stay away from me, could you?" Jeez! He's everywhere! Maybe he's like a robot and there's like thirty of them just running around with the sole purpose to annoy me. He smiles down at me where I've fallen down on my butt, but before I can offer any death threats Serena once again yanks me up by my arm.

"Liz! We don't have time to make goo goo eyes at anybody! Get a move on!" What the heck! I know she didn't just say that.

"Serena! I was NOT, I repeat NOT making goo goo eyes at him!" I yell in vain because I know that no matter what I say she won't listen to me. And the last thing I hear is Max's laughter as Serena hauls me off to the auditorium.

Maria POV

"You guys, it is SO not funny! Uggghh! Stop laughing!" I yell trying to make them understand how horrible this truly is. But apparently my friends are unsympathetic because my yelling only elicits more laughter from them. Idiots. "I'm serious! She actually wants us to dress alike too!" If I thought this was going to get me sympathy either I was horribly wrong because if anything they just laugh harder and longer.

"Oh…man…I…can't breathe!" Alex chokes out between laughs. "I just…keep…trying…to pic…picture it!" I glare at him.

"There is no, I repeat NO way that I am going to dress up like my mom, let alone Kyle and his dad." I spit out angry that they're still laughing at my dilemma.

"Awww, come on 'Ria," Alex coos, using the nickname Liz came up with for me years ago; "It'll be like you're one big happy family." Too late he notices the danger he's in though because he gives a yelp as I kick his leg under the table.

"Yeah, come on Maria," Michael joins in. "It is a fundraiser for the Roswell Police Department."

"She. Wants. Me. To. Dress. Up. Like. A. Sheriff." I enunciate slowly hoping to finally break through to them about the severity of this situation. "A sheriff!"

"Well, look on the bright side Maria; if you're dressed like a sheriff they can't arrest you this year. It'll be like you're one of their own." Alex says with a smirk.

"What are you guys talking about? Maria, you got arrested?" Isabel asks confused.

"Actually it's this thing they do every year at the fundraiser. They have this fake jail and you can pay the police department to arrest someone of your choosing and the person arrested has to spend some time in jail. And actually I think that's what earns the most money at the fundraiser." Michael explains trying to keep a straight face.

"That's because you pay Kyle every year to arrest us!" I yell giving him a shove. "Last year he actually ambushed me and Liz and I was hauled off to that stupid little jail on Deputy Hanson's shoulder!"

"Yeah, that was awesome!" Alex shouts breaking out into another fit of laughter over the memory.

"Yeah it was!" Michael agrees as Alex and him high five each other. At my glare he sobers and holds up his hands in defense. "Hey, I was just being a good citizen and supporting our local police department. I just wish everyone could be as generous as me."

"Oh, I'm feeling very generous this year. In fact, I feel very giving right now." I smile as I smack him hard on the back of the head.

"Owww! Hey! It wasn't just me! Alex and Kyle pitched in money too!" At Michael's admission Alex swivels his head around fast from where he was staring at Isabel and slowly his expression turned from one of confusion to one of fear.

"ALEX!" I ask incredulously. "I understand Michael and Kyle doing it, but you too?" And really I can understand Michael and Kyle doing it, but Alex? "What is this? Some conspiracy you guys cooked up against us?"

"Come on Maria, don't be mad." Alex says a little less afraid since realizing he's not within hitting distance.

"If you say 'get glad' I will hit you." Alex immediately shuts up and pretends to find an ant on the table extremely interesting.

"Maria, it's all for a good cause…" Isabel says. Oh no, they've gotten to her too. She's gone over to the dark side.

"Isabel, not you too." I groan leaning forward to rest my face in my hands exhausted over this entire conversation.

"No, Isabel's got a point Maria. It is all for a good cause, besides, it won't be only you. Now that Isabel's here we're going to have her arrested too." Michael tells me in what I guess is supposed to be a comforting voice. One glance at Isabel and I see she hadn't predicted this scenario and it was definitely not what she wanted to hear.

"You know, I really don't think that's necessary…"

"No, no, Isabel. You're apart of our group now and you should be included in everything. Don't you agree Alex?" I question staring intently at Alex waiting for an answer.

"Well, um…" Alex looks back and forth between Isabel and me not quite sure whose side to pick in this apparent argument. There's my side; his best friend since third grade. And there's Isabel's side; the potential girlfriend. And I say potential girlfriend because I don't think I've seen them apart once today. I have to admit its cute and all, but if he picks her side in this…after years of Liz, Serena, and I not being able to get out of it no matter what…

"Max!" Alex shouts noticing the dark haired brother of Isabel standing a few feet away from our table. "Max!" Alex shouts again desperately trying to flag the other guy over. And Max, noticing Alex's antics, heads over to our table and sits down. If Alex thinks this is going to get him out of answering he's got another thing coming.

"What's got you so smug?" And at Isabel's remark, I finally direct my attention to Max where he does in fact look smug.

"Nothing," Max answers, his smile growing, and I have to admit I am a little intrigued to find out why he's so smug. No Maria. Pay attention. You are trying to get out of being arrested this year…

"So Al-"

"Does this have to do with Liz again?" Isabel cuts me off bringing her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. Hmmm? Liz? So Max told her that her that Liz was the one he bumped into last night and broke her cell phone. That must be what she means by again…but then why is Max so smug? Oh well, back to the more important matters. Pushing my curiosity aside I continue.

"Well, Al-."

"Just please tell me you didn't kiss her again." Isabel continues her conversation with Max interrupting me yet again. Jeez. Can a sister get a sentence out? Wait. What? Max? Liz? KISSED! When did this happen? Michael must have been thinking the same thing I was because the next thing out of his mouth, besides the soda he'd just taken out drink of was…

"What!"

"Michael!" Kyle pants out of breath as he slows to a stop in front of our table and effectively interrupting a now wide-eyed Isabel trying to explain. "There you are man. I've been looking for you all over!" For some reason he keeps stealing glances at a large bush in the quad and when he seems satisfied he continues. "Michael, we have to go- what's going on here?" Kyle asks finally noticing the uncomfortable silence that has fallen over the table.

"Well apparently M-"

"Never mind, no time." Kyle rushes out interrupting me and turning to Michael. What the heck? "Sorry man, but we gotta go. The pep rally starts in a few minutes and we're supposed to help Serena get it started."

"Pep rally?" Isabel questions thankful for a possible change of subject.

"No time for questions you silly woman!" Kyle shouts out loudly grabbing Michael and dragging him off. Or should I say tried to drag him off. "What are you doing? Serena will have our heads if we're not there on time!"

"I think Serena will forgive us in this case." Michael answers tersely never moving his eyes off Max and Isabel. "I think Max and Isabel have something to tell us."

"What?" Kyle asks confused looking to the rest of us for an explanation.

"Don't look at me. I have no idea what's going on." I tell him when he looks to me. It's the truth I have no idea what's going on. Liz wouldn't just kiss Max and not tell me right?

"Apparently; Max kissed Liz." Michael answers, leaving the sentence hanging waiting for someone else to fill him in.

"Oh that? Liz already told us about th..at." Kyle trails off noticing everyone's eyes on him. "He heh…was I not supposed to say anything?" He asks nervously.

"It's true!" I shout in disbelief. "This is unreal. My best friend kisses someone and she doesn't even tell me. She tells Kyle, but she doesn't tell me?" I rant pacing back and forth by our table.

"In all fairness Maria," Kyle interjects. "Liz didn't kiss him." He says gesturing to Max. What? Then why are we having this convers-. Kyle interrupts my thoughts as he continues. "He kissed her." That being said, with an amazing show of strength, Kyle drags off Michael and leaves the rest of us to stare at Max.

Liz POV

"Ouch Serena, jeez, my arm hurts now." I say rubbing my shoulder where there is now a dull ache.

"I'm sorry, but did you really want to be late and have to listen to the gerbil go on and on about how we should know better?" She asks turning around to face me. She's got a point. I wouldn't want to give Tess another reason to gloat over me.

"No." I answer softly. "But did you have to yank so hard?"

"Aww…Liz, I'm sorry. Here, let me see it." Sniffling once for effect, I offer her my injured arm. She massages the joints in my elbow and shoulder and immediately the pain begins to ebb. "So Liz, it appears we're here a few minutes early, why don't you tell me more about this Max situation." She continues moving to stand in front of me. She guides me over to the bottom of the bleachers and sits me down.

"Yeah the only reason we're here early is because you nearly ripped my arm off running to get here. Besides, I already told you about Max."

"Uh uh; no you didn't, as I recall you only told me that he kissed you-"

"Exactly, there's nothing else to tell." I finish quickly.

"Well, there's the fact that you met him last night…and you didn't tell us about it…"

"He bumped into me, broke my cell phone. What's to tell?"

"Umm, I don't know, maybe that he asked you out." She counters.

"Well, last night he was just some random guy whose name I didn't even know. I didn't think it was that important." I answer honestly.

"That's fair. Well, how about what led up to the kiss. What happened?"

"What makes you think anything happened?" I ask blushing hotly and hoping she doesn't notice.

"Well the fact that your face is about the same color as a cherry tomato tells me otherwise." When I refuse to volunteer any extra information, she continues. "Liz, we're family."

"Since when does family blackmail?" I ask referring to this morning.

"Okay, okay, if I delete the video will you tell me?" She pulls her phone out of her purse, pulls up the aforementioned video and I watch as her finger hovers over the delete button waiting for my answer.

"Why do you want to know so badly?" I ask bewildered.

"Liz, I know you, you wouldn't just kiss some guy you just met, especially since you've like been in love with Jay for years." If anything, I feel my face get even redder. "Would you!" Serena asks at my obvious silence and embarrassment. I watch her hand still hovering over the button.

"You better delete that video." I tell her seriously. She scrambles to delete the video and when she has she turn back to me. "Good. Now hurry up we better get ready, here come Michael and Kyle." I tell her impishly. It serves her right for trying to blackmail me. Smiling, I watch as Michael, Kyle and a few other football players and cheerleaders walk in. Then…

"I guess it's a good thing I sent that video to Alex before I deleted it then." Serena tells me smugly, walking to the locker rooms to get changed. W-what? What just happened? I had total control of the situation and then-

"Liz, why didn't you tell me Max kissed you!" Michael's voice echoes in the auditorium. I feel my face immediately drain of color. I look over to Michael's right to see Kyle who won't meet my eyes.

"Sorry Michael, I gotta go get changed for the pep rally." I rush out quickly making my way towards the girls' locker rooms. And as I make my way swiftly towards my destination and safe haven, I look back and my eyes fall on Jay's sad eyes looking right back at me. I feel my stomach drop to my feet; I break eye contact and continue walking. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, when it rains, it pours.


	16. Chapter 16

Hello ppls! Heh heh...sorry it took me SO long to come back with a new part but I was suffering from major writing block where I knew what I wanted to happen...just not HOW to write it...but as you see I have returned! AHHHH! Don't throw fruit! (Cowers in fear)

I'd just like to thank all of you who have feedbacked my story, you guys are great and your questions and comments mean so much to me! Keep it up please! (Plus when I am procrastinating it reminds me that I need to work on a new part...) So...bug me please! LOL.

**Chapter 9: Cheerleaders, Football Players, and Spirit…Oh my.**

Kyle POV

"You've GOT to be kidding me. You want us to WHAT! I'm sorry. I know I said I'd help out but…really…this!" I whisper loudly gesturing to the pile of supplies stacked off to the side. She can't be serious. I am not I repeat NOT going to go through that kind of humiliation-

"Kyle! You can't just back out of this! People are already coming in for the pep rally." She tries to reason pointing to the crowds of students filing into the gym and sitting down of the bleachers. If she thinks that is going to make me rethink my answer…

"I don't care Serena; I didn't sign up for this-"

"Uh, yes you did…remember? Last week when I ask you and you said 'sure'…I'm pretty sure that was an agreement." She retorts angrily crossing her arms over her chest. She's cute when she's angry…NO Kyle. No. That kind of thinking is going to get you in trouble. It doesn't matter that she's looking at me with her big green eyes…or that she's doing that cute thing she does by biting her lip when she's trying to get what she wants. Oh Buddha, this isn't working. Concentrate Kyle.

"Kyle? KYLE. Are you even listening to me? Hello?" She asks waving a hand in front of my face trying to get my attention.

"W-What?" I start embarrassed at being caught spacing out while silently thanking Buddha that Liz's problem with thinking out loud wasn't contagious.

"I said you HAVE to help out. It's too late to back out." She says frustrated. "You are SO stubborn Kyle! Come on…can't you just do it…for me? Please?" She begs, her hands clasped together in front of her. "Please? I'll love you forever…" No…don't fall for it Kyle…

"Nope; sorry." As my answer sinks in she stomps her foot in frustration and turns to Michael who seems intent on sending death glares into the crowd of students. Who is he looking at?

"Michael, back me up here. YOU don't mind doing this do you? Could you kindly tell Kyle here that this is no big deal?" She exasperatingly breathes out. But she gets no answer as Michael continues his plot of death to whomever it is he's staring at. Which I have yet to determine…Let's see…there's Courtney…it could be her…she's always continually throwing herself at him and I know that annoys him…nope. That theory goes down the drain as soon she moves out of his line of sight…who could it be? Let's see…there's Maria, but I know it's not her…and Tess is no where in sight. That's when my eyes land on the person _behind_ Maria…Max. "HELL-O! Are EITHER of you two listening to me! What is this? National ignore Serena day!" Angrily she stalks over to stand in front of Michael cutting of his view of Max.

"What are you doing!" He asks angrily having lost sight of Max.

"NO. What are YOU doing?" She counters.

"Nothing."

"Really…Why don't I believe you?" She queries raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"I don't know cousin; you're the one with the trust issues…why don't you tell me." He quips not backing down.

"Well you must have been DOING something," she continues while pacing back and forth. "I mean you obviously weren't listening to me…but I'll let that slide…for now." Coming to a stop she turns to face him again. "Now that I have your attention, would you please remind Kyle that he promised to help me?" And almost automatically he responds.

"Kyle, you promised to help her." What! Thanks for the help traitor.

"Do you even KNOW what they have planned for us to do?" At his blank stare I can tell I am not the only one Serena kept in the dark. Yeah well he'll be singin' another tune once he figures it out. "She's going to pair us up with one of the cheerleaders and the cheerleader has to make us over using those supplies over there." I tell him seriously pointing to the offending pile of objects.

"So?"

"They're making us over…as GIRLS." I whisper horrified.

"Come on Kyle. It's all for school spirit." She pleads yet again. MUST. NOT. GIVE. IN.

"How is making us over as GIRLS supposed to generate school spirit?" Good Kyle, good. Let's see her try to explain this...

"They find it amusing…they see that our guys are good sports…they show up to the game…" She answers slowly.

"That's total crap and you know it-"

"Besides, you let us do it before…" Serena interjects.

"HEY! That was different! We were ten!" I yell out a little too loudly and I have now gained the attention of several other people. "Besides," I continue lowering my voice, "the answer is no. And nothing you can say is going to change my mind! And don't even THINK of using any of your _feminine wiles_ on me either!"

"Wait…are you implying that her _feminine wiles_ would work on you?" Michael asks confused.

"NO!" I deny quickly berating myself for my slip up and causing me to wonder if Liz's problem WAS contagious…I really hope for my sake it isn't.

"Fine then; I'll just ask someone else!" She huffs out stomping away.

"Me thinks thou dost protest too much." Michael whispers to me from behind.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean? And why didn't you back me up! Do you really want to be turned into a girl?"

"What it's supposed to mean is I think you like Serena."

"WHAT! I...I don't LIKE her!" I sputter out helplessly. "W-what would make you think that?" Smooth Kyle, smooth. He sends me a look telling me he doesn't believe a word I say…not that I blame him…the way I handled that _I_ wouldn't believe me.

"And as for why I didn't back you up…do you really think that I am going to refuse and incur the wrath of Serena…when she is living under the same roof as me? I'd have to be a MORON to do that. Besides, it's for what, an hour tops…" At my silence he continues. "You DO know you're in trouble now, right? She's not just going to let this go." He's right but how bad could it be? My thoughts are interrupted as Serena taps the microphone to get the attention of the crowd to start the assembly.

"Hey! Is everybody ready for a pep rally?" She starts off immediately exciting the audience as they cheer madly for her. "Alright, we have a great pep rally lined up for you guys today! As you all know, I am Serena Cohen, captain of the cheerleading team and I am going to get us started off…but first…I am going to need a guy to volunteer…You see, one of our football players backed out of an event I had planned for the pep rally at the last minute…so I'm in a bind…guys could you help me out?" She asks smiling sweetly at the crowd while twirling a strand of her red hair around a finger, successfully charming them. Immediately every guy has his hand raised. Well, look on the bright side Kyle; at least she didn't mention you by name…Making a show of looking around the crowd she takes a few steps when a loud cry breaks out.

"OUCH ISABEL!" I hear Max before I see him jump from his seat. Looking around he tries to sit back down before he is noticed. But it's too late. Poor fool. The smile breaks out on Serena's face and she immediately takes advantage of the situation. Whether he meant to or not…Max has just volunteered himself.

"You! Right there," She speaks brightly into the microphone pointing directly at Max. "Thank you for volunteering! Come on down." Max looks around helplessly at the crowd and realizing she's talking to him turns and glares at Isabel and grudgingly makes his way down to the floor from the bleachers. "See _Kyle Valenti_! Some people are willing to participate!" She speaks loudly while turning around to send a glare my way. Crap. Trying unsuccessfully to sink into the floor the crowd turns to stare at me. Expecting Michael to say something smart like 'I told you so' I am confused when he says nothing…turning to look at him I see him once again glaring daggers at Max.

"Uh oh Serena, what did you do?" I mutter silently to myself. Taking a chance I look over at Liz who looks just as likely to kill him…something tells me this is going to get ugly really fast…  
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That's it for now ppl...sorry it's so short but I promise to update again in a few days with a longer chapter. SCOUTS HONOR! (Holds up fingers) Okay...so I was never a scout...but I still promise.


	17. Chapter 17

Hello ppl. Sorry it's been so long since my last update but due to some dropping grades and minor health issues I was forced to put my stories on hold. Well, anyway, here's the next part. Enjoy. : )**  
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**Part 9B**

**Maria POV**

"I bet ten bucks Michael jumps him within five minutes."

"Twenty says Liz jumps him first." I answer Alex confidently pulling my wallet out of my purse fully prepared to back up my bet. I sneak another look at Liz and cringe. Max is definitely not going to come out of this unscathed. Liz is like literally foaming at the mouth like a mad woman. Alex arches an eyebrow at me in confusion and then turns to look at Liz.

"Can I change my bet?" Alex asks a second later. Fat chance of that happening, Mama needs a new pair of shoes.

"Nope, then it wouldn't be a bet, we'd both be voting for the same person."

"So?" Alex responds, finding nothing at all wrong with his answer.

"So," I continue, "Neither. Of. Us. Would. Make. Any. Money." I enunciate slowly as if speaking to a child. He takes a moment to process my answer and then looks at me confused.

"Does that mean I can't change my choice?" Didn't I just….? Huh? Oh never mind.

"No Alex you cannot change your bet."

"Damn."

"Ha ha, serves you right for not thinking through your options." I answer smugly as I silently subtract ten dollars from the amount still needed to buy my shoes. I feel bad for betting against my boyfriend, but Liz has got a lot of rage and let's face it, shoes don't buy themselves. I hear Alex mutter a string of curses beside me over his choice and smiling I settle down onto the bleacher and wait for the outcome that will make me ten dollars richer.

"I can't BELIEVE you two!" Turning my head in surprise I notice Isabel angrily glaring at the two of us, her arms folded stiffly across her chest.

"What? Do I have something in my teeth? ALEX! I had something in my teeth and you didn't tell me!" I shriek subconsciously rubbing my tongue frantically over my teeth searching for the offending piece of food. "Do y-oo-u… s-see ith?" I ask worriedly through clenched teeth as I turn back to face Isabel. Though instead of helping me out she gives me a blank incredulous stare. "What is everyone against me?" When neither of them answers I dig through my purse looking for a mirror. "Pfft. Some friends you are." I mutter sarcastically finally finding my small compact buried at the bottom of my purse. I'm pulled from my inspection though when I feel my compact being yanked out of my hands and suddenly the reflection of my bright green eyes are replaced with the view of two ice blue eyes filled with annoyance and anger.

"Maria! You do NOT have anything in your teeth!"

"What? Well then wh-"

"I was talking about the fact that both of you are betting over who is going to beat up my brother first!" She shouts furiously causing at least three students to look on in fear and look for an escape route.

"OH. Is that all?" I question calmly. If anything though my question only serves to enrage her further as her blue eyes blaze fiercely in response.

"Is that ALL!"

"Isabel, we're not betting over who's going to beat up your brother first." I replied evenly and she gives me this look of utter disbelief. "We're betting," I continue, "over who is going to _jump _your brother first. I'm pretty sure someone will break up the fight if anything serious starts to happen. You don't think the teachers or the principal will let it just happen do you?" I tell her mischievously. And just when I was expecting her to explode with another angry remark, she surprises me. Her stiff posture loosens as she relaxes and sits back to inspect the scene below us.

"So then how much is the bet on Liz? If anyone is going to jump my brother first it'll be her. She's practically burning holes into his head right now or at least plotting some form of bodily injury." I like her. I can tell we are going to get along just fine. Though all of my thoughts are interrupted when a strange ringing fills my ears. Looking around for the source, I have to laugh when I discover where it is coming from.

"Uh Alex? I-I think your pants are ringing." I tell him amused. Only he's not listening to me. In fact he seems pretty engrossed in trying to persuade Isabel to bet on Michael, not Liz. Nice try. "ALEX." I say a bit louder this time, waving a hand in front of his face. Finally attracting his attention, I continue. "Alex, your pants are ringing." He shoots me a confused look and then, noticing where I gestured, pulls the ringing device from his pocket. Fumbling to open it, he mouths the words silently to himself.

"You have a video message! From who!"

"HOW on earth do you DO that?" He looks at me incredulously over my amazing ability at lip reading. Hey, what can I say, I picked up a few tricks back in my babysitting days.

"That's not important. Who's it from and what's it a video of?" I exclaim nosily peeking over his shoulder.

"I don't know what it is…hold on, just let me open it…" He mumbles out while opening the file. Isabel, now intrigued also peeks her head over his shoulder. Then we all watch slowly as the small screen of his cell phone fills up with the opening frames of a video. A very _familiar _video…wait…Oh. My. Gosh.

'_Yeah, sure Jay…I'll dance with you…mmm haha…yeah.' _

Alex squints closely at the screen trying to accurately decipher who the owner of the voice is.

"Is…is that _Liz_?" Alex asks echoing the very same words I had said earlier.

'…_look hottie! Just cuz you're cute and asked me out does not mean I'm going to forget that you broke my cell phone.'_

Okay, let's all count it…1, 2- And I don't even make it to three before a large high pitched gasp reaches my ears. Yep, Liz is definitely going to kill Serena…

**Serena POV**

I watch as Max grudgingly makes his way down from the bleachers towards me as jocks are cheering him on and girls are whistling at him. I kind of feel bad for just picking on him like that when it's obvious he wasn't volunteering himself…but not bad enough to actually pick someone else. I gotta admit, he _is _easy on the eyes. No wonder my cousin is so warm for his form, no matter how much she denies it. Speaking of his form…it's a very nice one…I'm interrupted in my inspection by the clearing of a throat. His throat. How did he get over here so fast? Oh well, time to go to work. Setting down the microphone carefully I stand at my full height ready to greet him.

"Hi Max! So how's your first day of school going so far?" I ask brightly, taking on the cliché traits of a cheerleader.

"H-how do you know my name?" He asks me startled, and a little freaked out. OH, right. He hasn't met you yet Serena. You've only seen him through some bushes when your cousin was plotting his downfall. Which I still don't understand by the way...if he'd kissed _me, _I'd be jumping for joy. "Excuse me." Max continues, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Yeah?" I question embarrassed at having been caught spacing out.

"Have we met before or something? How do you know my name?" He asks genuinely stumped as to how I could've known. I really contemplated telling him the truth right away, really I did; but I couldn't resist having a little fun with him first.

"It's magic." I answer seriously. "In fact," I continue ominously, "I know everything about you Max Evans."

"Y-you do?" He asks taking a quick step away from me as I move to get closer to him.

"Yep, the benefits of selling your soul to Satan. Didn't you know that all cheerleaders are the Dark One's followers?"

"N-no…"

"How do you think we are able to do all those flips and lifts? Practice? Yeah right!" I scoff. He just stares at me blankly. "Max, I'm just kidding, relax. Besides no one here follows the Dark One, except for maybe Tess. You should probably watch out for her. You want to know how I really knew who you were?" He nods his head and I motion for him to lean in closer as if it were a secret. Then I whisper the truth quietly in his ear. "The aliens. They speak to me and tell me things." I whisper conspiratorially. Okay so maybe it wasn't REALLY the truth. Max shoots me an incredulous look and suddenly I can't take it anymore. The look on his face is so priceless that I break out laughing. "Max, I'm just kidding." He doesn't look too sure and makes sure to keep his distance looking at me like I had just escaped from Bedlam. "No seriously." Calming down and straightening myself I stick out my hand. "Serena Cohen." I introduce myself. He looks hesitantly at my hand and then reaches out to shake it. "I'm Michael and Liz's cousin." Recognition breaks out on his face and he visibly relaxes a little. "I've heard a lot about you Max."

"You have? What did you hear?" He asks suspiciously while eying the spot on the bleachers where his sister is seated.

"Well…I heard you might be gay, you were a stupid smug little something or other, and…I heard you were swapping spit with my cousin in the hallway…did I miss anything?" I ask innocently. Max looks dumbfounded and when he finally gets over his stupor he mutters something out that sounds a lot like 'I'm going to kill Kyle.' But it's hard to hear over the crowd who is getting restless. "So, shall we get started?" Looking back at Liz's furious face I try to stifle my laughter. THIS is going to be interesting.

**Liz POV**

Oh. No. Oh HELL NO! I watch in horror as Max makes his way slowly down the bleachers towards my cousin. What does my deranged cousin think she's doing! And I say deranged because she must know what she's doing, but even as I see it, I don't believe it. This is NOT happening. Almost involuntarily I feel my hands tighten into fists at my sides as I fight to keep the scream caught in my throat from breaking free. Still seething from our last encounter I attempt to burn wholes through his head with my glare. Unfortunately only moments later he steps down onto the floor safely and burn-free and it's all I can do not to jump him right there on the spot.

Eww! Get your minds out of the gutter! Not like that! I mean it in the sense of causing him physical pain. I'm broken out of my trance and plots of hurting Max by Serena's laughter and I look up just in time to her punch him playfully on the shoulder. What. The. Heck. Why is my cousin getting all friendly with the enemy? This is SO not happening. Trying to calm down so I don't make an idiot out of myself in front of the entire student body I busy myself looking anywhere else but the sight of my cousin LAUGHING with HIM. It doesn't take long though for my eyes to find Kyle and I notice that he's about as pleased as I am at the proximity between my cousin and Max but for a completely different reason. His right eye starts to twitch and wait a minute-did he just growl? Following his narrowed gaze I look back just in time to see Max lean in close to Serena and see her whisper something in his ear. Poor Kyle. Thinking about it now, I don't know why I never noticed it before. How could I not have noticed how much Kyle liked Serena? I mean it seems like it's so obvious now. It makes me wonder how my cousin can be so oblivious to it all. Then almost as if she knows what I'm thinking Serena turns abruptly around to face us and WHY IS SHE WINKING AT ME! What plan could she be concocting now-OH crap! Suddenly I remember the conversation we had in the locker room before the pep rally and then the reason for her winking becomes perfectly clear. Uggh! Why does today SUCK! Why did I ask Serena to trade partners with me again? Oh yeah, cause you didn't want to be caught in awkward conversation with Jay…but now-yep. My suspicions are confirmed as after another moment of conversation Max sidesteps Serena and makes his way towards me. Now I am paired up with Mr. 'I'm a jerk and just because I'm hot I think I can get away with everything' Evans _instead _of Kyle like it was supposed to be. Could today get any worse? I don't have to wait long for my answer though.

"Hey Partner." Max whispers giving me a wink and a grin. Ugh. Gag.

"Jerk." I greet him in an even tone. Clutching at his chest he pretends to stumble back.

"Liz, that hurts." I don't give him the satisfaction of a response. Its bad enough I have to spend another twenty minutes talking to him. I don't have to start now.

Suddenly I have no more sympathy for Kyle. He got me into this mess. All because he just doesn't want to be dressed up like a girl. Seriously, he used to let us do that to him all the time. But I will give him what he wants. It's time to put operation 'Buddha Love' into motion. It's time to get Serena to butt out of my love life and hopefully get her more focused on one of her own.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Thanks to our volunteer we can now get our pep rally underway!" Serena yells excitedly into the microphone, and just as she said, the pep rally begins as the Senior class president joins her out on the floor. Tuning them out I glance once more around the gym in hopes of finding some way to escape, but all I find are the angry and tense eyes of Jay. He glares openly at an oblivious Max and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he recognizes Max as the guy who was kissing me this morning…but is he jealous? Filing away that information for later I continue my perusal while trying inconspicuously to move closer to Max. Hey, if it's making Jay jealous I am willing to bear it. At least it shows he still cares enough to be jealous. Maybe he'll finally realize that it's stupid for us to be apart- "Alright, everybody join your partners. It's time to see if our men here have what it takes to be a woman." Handing her microphone over to the Class President Serena makes her way over to Jay at the same time that Courtney moves towards my brother. Then, getting my first good look at the supplies we have to work with I let a real grin break out on my face. If I have to spend time with Max, I might as well make the most of it…


	18. Chapter 18

Hey Everybody! Thanks for the reviews! Sorry it took so long to update, but now that I'm out of school hopefully the parts will come faster. Here's the next part.

Chapter 11: Miniature Disasters

Liz POV

"Hey! Watch it!" Max yells covering his now injured eye protectively and leaning away from my approaching hand, never taking his other eye off of the offending weapon I hold. Jeez, it was just an accident…if he'd held still it probably wouldn't- nope, it still would've happened…yeah, he shouldn't have pissed me off earlier. Putting the mascara wand back into its bottle, I stand waiting for him to calm down.

"There, I put it away. Now calm down. Jeez, you're such a baby." I say with a huff. "Aren't men supposed to be tough?" He looks at me indignantly and a second later, he removes his hand from his eye.

"Well what do you expect when you mercilessly attack me with that-that thing!" He points childishly at the mascara in my hand.

"It was an ACCIDENT! Get over it already, besides, if you had just held still then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now!" I yell back at him feeling the twinge of a headache forming at my temples. Does he always have to be so exhausting? I move my free hand up to my temple to rub small circles in an attempt to relieve the pain. Okay Liz, you can get through this. You only have one more period after this and then you're out. Thank God for free periods. Taking a deep breath I look up to see him still eyeing me warily. "WHAT!" I shriek out causing him to flinch even farther away from me. It came out more harshly than I intended it to and I look around noticing that our little spat has garnered more attention than before. A better inspection finds me falling under the gaze of my cousin who is currently glaring at me and the scene I am making and I have to literally fight the urge to roll my eyes. She's got to be kidding me. Well, what does she expect? She's the one who put me in this situation, it's not like pairing Max and I together in a pep rally is suddenly going to turn us into best friends, let alone make us be civil. I have to admit, I started this out confident that I could make Jay jealous, maybe even jealous enough to want to be with me again and see how stupid it is for us to be apart. He LOOKED angry enough to begin with…but now I'm starting to wonder if this all was even worth the effort. All this time Jay looked like he could care less and instead busies himself talking to Serena, and Max is seriously starting to give me a headache. Tuning back into Serena's glare I steel myself to turn my attention back to Max, but not before catching Jay turning to look in my direction, his eyes looking murderously at Max and our close proximity, or at least that's what I hope it is. A second later, I watch his gaze move over to me but as soon as his eyes meet mine he turns away. But with renewed hope and feeling my headache begin to ebb I turn back to Max. "Okay, come on. I want to win this thing. There is NO way, and I mean NO way that I am going to lose to my cousin, let alone Courtney." And pass up this opportunity to make Jay see what a fool he's being…I add silently to myself. Heck, after that glare Jay just sent Max's way I'd willingly kiss Max again if I thought that would get Jay to come back to me.

_Yeah, like that's the ONLY reason you'd willingly kiss Max again…_

Oh shut up you. Can't you just leave me alone? It was a good kiss okay? But even if it was a great kiss that does not mean that I am going to kiss him all the time or forget about Jay.

_You just said it was a GREAT kiss…_

Yeah whatever; look, I got a contest to win so can you just you know…poof? Or whatever it is you do when you go away?

_Fine._

Thank you.

"Liz?" Max asks shaking me out of my mental argument.

"Yeah, what? Sorry, what was that?" I say tuning back into the situation. Come on Liz, you want to win don't you?

"I said, sure, we can keep going as long as you keep that offending instrument of pain away from me." He says gesturing to the mascara.

"But I've only done one eye; I need to do the other one." I state already unscrewing the lid to said mascara. At my action Max backs up two steps and holds his hands up in defense.

"NO! I want to keep my other eye! Keep that thing away!" He yells fearfully dodging my approaching hand once again. "No! Keep it away! It only causes pain!"

"Yeah, well beauty is pain, so deal with it! Now you know what women go through to look beautiful." At my words, a look of sheer horror crosses his face.

"You actually DO this! WILLINGLY! You're a masochist!"

"Well, usually when I DO this, I am sitting STILL so it doesn't poke me is the EYE! So stand STILL!" Grabbing him by the arm forcefully, I apply mascara to his other eye, but not before-

"OUCH! You poked me in the eye! AGAIN! I think you're doing this on purpose!" He announces sulkily jutting out his bottom lip. It's completely adorable and I almost want to ki- I mean, it's completely annoying! When I realize he's not going to cooperate I take a step back from him and fold my arms across my chest in annoyance.

"Of course I'm doing this on purpose! It's part of the pep rally! And I REALLY want to win-"

"I don't think injuring me is part of the pep rally…" He says as if stating a point I have overlooked.

"Yeah, well, like I said, beauty is pain; and the object of this pep rally is to makeover you guys into some pretty ladies. If you didn't want to do this then you shouldn't have volunteered."

"I didn't! My sister pinched me and when I stood up, your cousin so _kindly _picked on me!" He shouts loudly and I know my cousin has heard because when I turn around to glare at her she has the grace to look embarrassed if not nervous. Hmm…what are you playing at Serena? Don't think I won't get you back for this. Almost as if she can hear what I am thinking she immediately busies herself with making over Jay, which reminds me-

"Oh well, you're here now so let's just deal with this and get it over with. Now come here. The worst part is over. Now let me do your blush." I say calming down a little and once again grabbing him by the arm to bring him closer to me. I start applying the blush to his skin and Max quietly complies and just when I think this might even work out and we might win he opens his big mouth.

"Should you really be putting this much make-up on me? I've seen my sister do this hundreds of times and I don't remember seeing her ever put this much on. You're not making me look like a slut are you!" He asks worriedly as his eyes get as wide as saucers. "Whoa, there's a vein popping out in your forehead-"

"SHUT UP! Just be quiet. Don't talk unless you can improve the silence. And hold still, _unless_, you want to look like Marilyn Manson." Ah, silence. At my threat he settles down into a pout. I finish applying his blush and then make a grab for the lipsticks provided. Hmm…iced mocha, plum, or peach blossom…

"Okay Max, which one do you want? Iced mocha, plum, or peach blossom?" I ask holding up the three options for him to choose from.

"Uh, I don't know, you're the make-up expert, you choose."

"Yeah, but just a second ago you were criticizing my techniques. Aren't you concerned I'm going to make you look like a slut?" I ask smugly.

"Fine, fine. I'm sorry. I'm sure you're doing a fine job. Just pick whatever you want."

"Thank you. Now, I think with your skin tone you're more an iced mocha than anything." I say thinking out loud. Putting down the other two tubes of lipstick I move his face down so I can get a good look at his lips. Wow he has nice lips. Whoa, focus Liz, focus. "Okay, now relax your lips and hold your mouth open a little bit like this." I tell him showing him how I want him to put his lips by doing the same with mine. Max looks down at my lips and suddenly I feel the heat rise to my cheeks because I realize that he's staring at them fixatedly. He finally allows his eyes to flicker up to my face to look into my eyes and for a second I stop breathing. He looks like he wants to kiss me senseless. I close my eyes to clear my mind. It's only in your head Liz, when you open your eyes again, Max will just be waiting there for you to put the lipstick on him. Yet as I open my eyes it's only to see that Max has lowered his face dangerously close to mine. His mouth hovers only inches away from mine and the memory from this morning's kiss only makes me want to close that distance all the more. I want to taste him again. Wait, Liz, what are you thinking! Breaking myself out of the fog I'm in, I push Max away quickly before it goes any further and take a few steps back. This is NOT good.

"What are you DOING!" I whisper harshly to him hoping to snap him out of whatever he was just thinking. I can't believe I almost kissed him, AGAIN. In front of Jay- and oh crap. Looking around to see if anyone had noticed our near-kiss, because if anyone had been watching that's what they would have seen. There is no other reason why Max's face would be so close to mine. I am surprised though to see that everyone's attention is on my brother and Courtney who, from where I'm standing appear to be in a heated argument. Breathing a sigh of relief, I take this opportunity to grab Max by the collar of his shirt and apply the lipstick to his soft lips.

_Soft? Now how do you know they're soft?_

You? I thought you were gone.

_Silence…_

Thank you now let me get back to winning this.

"Now Max, rub your lips together like this." And still slightly confused at what just happened complies easily.

"Like this?" He asks massaging both lips together.

"Yeah, like that."

"Okay, now what?"

"Now…"smack. The sound of skin hitting skin resounds in the air around us as I smack him soundly on the arm.

"OUCH! First you poke me in the eyes probably in an attempt to blind me and now you SMACK me! What the heck! I haven't done anything to anger you have I?" He questions sarcastically, clutching at his now red arm; but due to the attention Michael and Courtney are attracting I doubt anyone paid attention to his words.

"Hmm…let's see, you broke my phone, insulted me, pretty much brought about the destruction of my relationship with that kiss this morning-"

"Oh really, it was _that _good huh?" He interrupts now smiling smugly down at me and I feel my anger start to boil over. That little…

"NO you jerk! My boyfriend saw you kiss me and got the wrong idea about us-"

"What about US?" He asked, his smile growing wider.

"Are you LISTENING? There IS no us. And thanks to that kiss this morning, my boyfriend wants nothing to do with me." Don't punch him Liz, DON'T punch him…

"If there is no us, then why'd we almost kiss a minute ago?"

"WE didn't almost kiss a minute ago. YOU almost kissed me a minute ago." I tell him, the venom dripping from every word just daring him to say otherwise. He's silent for a minute and as his gaze studies my face I expect him to come back at me with another sarcastic or insulting remark. The last thing I expected was an apology.

"You're right, I'm sorry. Look, I didn't mean to mess up things between you and your boyfriend. I thought that there was something between us, but I was wrong and I'm sorry." At my silence he continues nervously. "You know, I'm not usually such a jerk, I guess you just bring it out in me. Whoa, don't get angry, I didn't mean it like that." He says quickly noticing my fists clenching at my sides. At my still skeptic look he continues. "Look, for what it's worth, he's a jerk if he doesn't trust you. Isn't trust important in relationships?" I fight the feeling rising within me but it soon overtakes me and I can't help what's going to happen next. I burst out laughing so hard that I think my sides are going to split. "What? What's so funny?" Max asks looking genuinely confused.

"Y-you…" I manage to get out between my fit of giggles.

"What? Why?"

"I can't believe I am having a serious conversation with you…dressed like that." Looking down at himself dressed in a makeshift dress made out of a plastic tablecloth and wearing make-up he begins to laugh as well.

"I see what you mean." Then suddenly getting serious he continues. "I meant what I said though, if he doesn't trust you then maybe he's not worth it." He tells me seriously, which I find very strange considering most of our previous conversations consisted of arguing and insults.

"Would YOU trust a girl kissing another guy, right before your eyes, especially after years of your sister bad-mouthing you!" At the tone of my voice he visibly cringes. "Yeah, that's what I thought. So forgive me if I'm a little hesitant to take relationship advice from someone who tried to break up me and my boyfriend just this morning." I bite out bitterly dwelling on the dismal situation of my relationship right now.

"Liz…" At my indignant silence he tries to get my attention and when I won't look at him he lifts my chin up to look at him. "Liz, I'm sorry, really." He looks sincere and part of me wants to believe him. Probably the crazy part, I mean this IS the same guy who just tried to kiss me. Fine, I'll play along with his game. "Look, who's your boyfriend-"

"EX-boyfriend you mean?" I correct him. "Oh that would be that guy over there with my cousin, you know, the one that's been glaring at you for the last five minutes." I add in with a smile. I know it's not true, but maybe it'll scare Max a little. And just as I'd hoped, Max winces a little letting me know my words have indeed affected him. Thankfully and to my delight, when Max looks over to where Jay and Serena are standing, Jay is in fact glaring at Max, and it takes all my self-control to keep a straight face. As I look back up at Max, he turns back to me and his eyes meet mine. Does he actually look remorseful? Could he really be serious about the apology? Whoa, okay, I have got to stop thinking like this. I don't want to think that there's more to Max Evans than what I've met. It's just too…too-

"Here, wait here, and I'll just go and explain it to him, you know, tell him I made a mistake." He says motioning over to Jay and trying to move around me to get to him. Is he serious? If he goes over there now he'll just make it worse. Jay looks pissed off as it is, ever since Max looked his way. This won't be pretty, and as much as I want to see Max get taken down a notch, that annoying little voice inside my head that claims to be my conscience is telling me to stop him; that and the fact that if this goes badly, any chance of a relationship between me and Jay is basically over. Before I even realize what I'm doing then, I grab onto Max's arm, effectively stopping him. He turns a questioning glance down to my hand on his arm and looks back up at me confused. "What?"

"Look, I believe you're sorry." I rush out hurriedly. "Don't do this now; you'll just make things worse."

"Oh, come on. It won't be that bad, just chill out. Go practice a cheerleader routine or something, I'll be right back." His sarcasm, to my annoyance has returned. And with that said he takes hold of my hand around his arm to release its grip on the appendage. He starts to move away from me and towards Jay and my mind frantically searches for a solution. Later I'll regret my next action but in desperation, I latch my arms strongly around his waist trying to stop his escaping form. He stops and I realize the extremely awkward position we are both in. Him, standing mid-step with his back turned to me, and me bent forward, my shoulder resting on his back and my arms latched firmly around his waist. Turning his head to look down at me where I'm frozen he smiles amused.

"Wow, you just can't keep your hands off of me, can you?" He asks smugly. Finally looking back up at him I say only one word.

"Don't." I growl out. If kindly asking doesn't work with this man, maybe fear of being beaten will stop him…Suddenly without warning, he turns in my arms so now my face is in his chest and my arms wrapped around his torso. The awkward turn causing me in the confusion to stand to my full height. It still hadn't crossed my mind to release my arms from their current position which if it had, it would've saved us quite a bit of trouble since right about now it looks like we're locked in an intimate embrace and this time, we don't have the arguing voices of Michael and Courtney to take the attention off of us. Then, before I have time to form a coherent thought, Max begins to whisper softly against my ear. I never noticed him leaning down…

_Probably, because you were too distracted by the feel of being in his arms…_

Shut up! What are you talking about! I am not in his arms! His arms aren't ar-around me…It's then I notice that his arms are indeed around me.

_See?_

Just go away, would you?

"I think you've probably just made things worse on your own." I shiver involuntarily at the sensation of his warm breath against my ear. Then as his words register I lean to see around Max to look at Jay who looks more ready than ever to kill Max. Then Jays gaze drops lower and he lets out a growl. I follow to where he's looking to still see my arms wrapped firmly around Max's torso. I immediately drop my arms as if burned, but the damage has already been done, and it's made even worse when Max raises his hand to my cheek in a soft caress and moves an errant strand of my hair behind my ear. The realization that this is not only happening in front of Jay this time but the whole school hasn't officially hit me yet. In fact, the only thought running through my mind is that I've got to get to Jay. I've got to make him realize that this is all a big misunderstanding. Jay looks away from me in disgust and with a little help from Serena, who looks at me disapprovingly, ignores me. Panicking, I immediately try to sidestep Max to get to Jay; all that matters right now is making him understand. But apparently my body had other plans for me when instead of by stepping Max; I feel the ground drop out from under me and in my desperate attempt to prevent my face from totally eating the gym floor, I grab onto the very thing which tripped me in the first place: that stupid plastic tablecloth that we used to make Max's dress. Unfortunately, the dress was still ON Max when I grabbed for it.

How could this get worse you ask? Well, the student body president, who has the microphone by the way, picks this very opportune time to narrate what's going on. Or, at least what she _thinks _is going on.

"Well, it looks like one of our teams is "cozying" up to each other." She speaks into the microphone conspiratorially as if the rest of the school couldn't already see Max and I locked up in a tangle of limbs on the floor of the gym. Max's body on top of mine in a VERY compromising position, and of course, in the shock, an attempt to move wasn't made right away. To everyone else in that gym we looked more like a hormonally driven couple than the victims of a klutz attack. And by everyone, I mean EVERYONE. If I was wondering how Jay would react, I didn't have to wait very long.

"Get of my girlfriend!" Jay yells making his way towards us.

"JAY! JAY!" Serena yells rushing after him. "Jay! Jay, stop!" But before she can stop him, he reaches where we lay. And before I can utter out a word in explanation, he throws the first punch.


End file.
